On Wed, 18 Apr 2001, Kelley Walker wrote:
> One Nation, After All: HOW<<<< the middle class really thinks
> about... HOW, not WHAT.
[snip]
>
> One Nation, is a study of middle class american culture, values, morality
> -- about the people who have a great deal of power to shape ideas. there
> is plenty to criticize him for but the nonsense that has been trotted out
> here--he is antifeminist, a homophobe, and is trying to say something about
> all of the US when in fact he is not is rubbish and based on knee jerk
> reactions about a man most of you've decided is a "bad" person who deserves
> scorn because he defected from the ranks of the left. fine. that's why i
> don't count myself a marxist any longer.
>
Even with this caveat--he's interested in the middle class--do you think his small convenience sample allows him to make valid conclusions about "middle class american culture" as a whole? This is a reasonable question to ask about any convenience sample-based research (e.g., Arlie H's Second Shift comes to mind).
Miles