Date: Wed, 25 Jun 1997 14:54:08 -0400
From: Thomas F Brown <tombrown@jhunix.hcf.jhu.edu>
Subject: re: tracking again
To: socgrad@csf.colorado.edu
Message-id: <97Jun25.145411edt.2555-8@jhunix.hcf.jhu.edu>
Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT
>how is "measur[ing] people's attitudes regarding the regime structure"
>any different from measuring people's "subjective feelings of
>unfairness?"
>one was deemed insignificant for this analysis by you, and the other was
>suggested as one of the necessary measures.  
>how do you see these two as different?

Good question. First, I am stipulating here that the regime structure
is a hegemonic discourse rather than an overtly coercive phenomenon.
So I am starting from a different conceptual framework than before,
in an attempt to find some common ground with the folks who rejected
my previous definition of tracking as too limited in scope. That
accounts for the difference in "significance".

Second, I think the two ideas overlap greatly, but I would distinguish
them for purposes of analysis. I would conceive "subjective feelings of 
unfairness" as an outcome of tracking. I would conceive "people's attitudes 
regarding the regime structure" as a component of tracking--an independent
variable, not an outcome. Remember, this is based on a different conception
of tracking than the one I proposed before, one that incorporates much
more subjectivity.