Part I. Overview: 1. Conventional discourses, public opinion, and political culture; 2. Analysis of conventional discourses: backgrounds and methods; 3. Conventional discourses and personal lives; Part II. Immigration: 4. Public opinion about immigration; 5. 'Too many immigrants' and discourses about economic costs and benefits; 6. Discourses about legality, illegality, and national security; 7. Discourses about immigration and American culture; 8. Discourses about immigration causes and contexts; Part III. Social Welfare Programs: 9. Public opinion about social welfare programs; 10. Discourses about limitations of government programs; 11. Discourses about personal responsibility and benefits for the deserving; 12. Discourses about caring for self, family, community, and nation; 13. Discourses about social causes of economic insecurity; Part IV. Conclusion: 14. Questions and implications.

Claudia Strauss is Professor of Anthropology at Pitzer College. She is the author of A Cognitive Theory of Cultural Meaning (Cambridge University Press, 1997) with Naomi Quinn and co-editor of Human Motives and Cognitive Models (Cambridge University Press, 1992).