Gamson’s Helplessness
Gamson 1961
1. Public officials don’t really care about what people like me think.
2. Sometimes politics and government seem so complicated that a person like me can’t really understand what’s going on.
3. Human nature being what it is‚ there will always be war and conflict.
4. Very little of what we read in newspapers and magazines can really be trusted.
5. With the types of rockets and weapons used nowadays‚ it would be easy for some official to push a button and plunge us into war.
This instrument can be found at: https://www.psc.isr.umich.edu/dis/infoserv/isrpub/pdf/Measuresofsocialpsychologicalattitudes_2928_.PDF
Gamson‚ W. (1961). The fluoridation dialogue: is it an ideological conflict? Public Opinion Quarterly‚ 25‚ 526-537.
Robinson‚ John P.‚ Shaver‚ Phillip R. (1969). Measures of Political Attitudes. Institute for Social Research‚ University of Michigan/. Ann Arbor‚ Michigan