Justin H. Gross

My research interests include U.S. ideologies, political communication in mass and social media, public opinion, and the intersection of identity and political beliefs. I also work on methodological problems in measurement, text analysis, and network analysis, and am especially interested in methods that put statistical and computational tools to use in service of our ability to achieve rich qualitative insights. I have published work in the American Journal of Political Science, British Journal of Political Science, Public Opinion Quarterly, and several other journals and edited volumes.

I am currently working on projects related to how media activists and politicians (opinion elites) invoke core values in order to frame arguments while at times contesting the very meanings and appropriate applications of these values. In related work, my coauthors and I are examining the processes by which extreme ideas may move from the fringe to the mainstream in contemporary U.S. political discussion. More generally, I am interested in the role of ideas in connecting political elites and the ideologically engaged public. I draw on scholarship by historians, social psychologists, and mass media & communication scholars, in addition to work by those who study political behavior and identities.