“Something other than a comparison of the available evidence must be invoked to explain this discrepancy.”
Yes, but what leads you to think that a status-based explanation is helpful here? The two predictions you listed are both perfectly compatible with many non-status-related hypotheses. For example, it’s quite plausible that one meme happened to get a head start.
Hypothesis: Driving-while-drunk is a much bigger deal now than it was several decades ago, and it maintains its prominence primarily because of momentum: people keep talking about it because “everyone’s talking about it”. In order for driving-while-sleep-deprived to hold the same position, it would have to climb up that same hill, and the necessary PR work and/or meme pool churn hasn’t caused that to happen yet.
That, however, is not really an explanation, but merely a statement of what has happened. Why did one issue get a head start, and why is it being talked about in a self-reinforcing way, and the other not?
It seems clear to me that there must be something about these two behaviors that makes people react to them differently, independent of any objective evaluations of their dangerousness. But what is it? I honestly can’t find a better explanation than the associations people have with each behavior, where status considerations play an important role in shaping their response.
Another significant clue is that regulations intended to curb dangers from sleep-deprivation are brought and enforced against truckers, but not against medical residents, who regularly get behind the wheel after working 30-hour shifts (and not to even mention treating patients under such sleep deprivation). Do you believe that the dramatically different treatment of these professions has nothing to do with their status?
I agree that the differential treatment between professions is stronger evidence of status having an effect.
However, if I understand what you’re saying correctly, I don’t think this statement makes sense:
I honestly can’t find a better explanation than the associations people have with each behavior, where status considerations play an important role in shaping their response.
Alone, not being able to find a better explanation for something than X isn’t good support for X being the explanation. There needs to be significant positive evidence in favor of X, or there’s no reason to choose it over “Ayedunno” (aka the null hypothesis).
Alone, not being able to find a better explanation for something than X isn’t good support for X being the explanation. There needs to be significant positive evidence in favor of X, or there’s no reason to choose it over “Ayedunno” (aka the null hypothesis).
You’re right, of course. This statement certainly wasn’t well formulated. I do see significant positive evidence, however, even if the case isn’t airtight.
A less strong and more limited claim would be that the different treatment of these issues is—to some extent that can’t be determined exactly but is definitely significant—due to the fact that alcohol impairment evokes extraordinarily negative associations in the North American culture, which biases upward the amount of attention given to problems that involve this factor, as well as the intensity of public condemnation of people causing such problems, relative to similar problems that don’t involve this particular factor. It seems to me that this claim is evident from the facts mentioned earlier.
Saying that the cause of bias is that drinking is low-status is basically a shorthand for the above long-winded statement, with the added claim that the negative view of alcohol is to a large degree status-related, and that the apparent indifference towards certain dangerous behaviors similar to drunk driving is strongly reinforced by the fact that cracking down on them would mean condemnation and meddling into the lives of lots of high-status respectable folk. I agree that this latter point is harder to justify, and my personal view of it is influenced by personal observations and experiences that are hard to translate into formal written arguments.
That, however, is not really an explanation, but merely a statement of what has happened. Why did one issue get a head start, and why is it being talked about in a self-reinforcing way, and the other not?
A head start is sufficient to answer the second question. It is also at least as much as an answer as ‘status’. In both cases more detail is required. I am not taking a position here myself but if I wanted to find reasons for a ‘head start’ I would look at behvaioral trends at the time where this issue became a problem. Were people getting drunk or depriving themselves of 30 hours of sleep more often?
“Something other than a comparison of the available evidence must be invoked to explain this discrepancy.”
Yes, but what leads you to think that a status-based explanation is helpful here? The two predictions you listed are both perfectly compatible with many non-status-related hypotheses. For example, it’s quite plausible that one meme happened to get a head start.
Hypothesis: Driving-while-drunk is a much bigger deal now than it was several decades ago, and it maintains its prominence primarily because of momentum: people keep talking about it because “everyone’s talking about it”. In order for driving-while-sleep-deprived to hold the same position, it would have to climb up that same hill, and the necessary PR work and/or meme pool churn hasn’t caused that to happen yet.
That, however, is not really an explanation, but merely a statement of what has happened. Why did one issue get a head start, and why is it being talked about in a self-reinforcing way, and the other not?
It seems clear to me that there must be something about these two behaviors that makes people react to them differently, independent of any objective evaluations of their dangerousness. But what is it? I honestly can’t find a better explanation than the associations people have with each behavior, where status considerations play an important role in shaping their response.
Another significant clue is that regulations intended to curb dangers from sleep-deprivation are brought and enforced against truckers, but not against medical residents, who regularly get behind the wheel after working 30-hour shifts (and not to even mention treating patients under such sleep deprivation). Do you believe that the dramatically different treatment of these professions has nothing to do with their status?
I agree that the differential treatment between professions is stronger evidence of status having an effect.
However, if I understand what you’re saying correctly, I don’t think this statement makes sense:
Alone, not being able to find a better explanation for something than X isn’t good support for X being the explanation. There needs to be significant positive evidence in favor of X, or there’s no reason to choose it over “Ayedunno” (aka the null hypothesis).
You’re right, of course. This statement certainly wasn’t well formulated. I do see significant positive evidence, however, even if the case isn’t airtight.
A less strong and more limited claim would be that the different treatment of these issues is—to some extent that can’t be determined exactly but is definitely significant—due to the fact that alcohol impairment evokes extraordinarily negative associations in the North American culture, which biases upward the amount of attention given to problems that involve this factor, as well as the intensity of public condemnation of people causing such problems, relative to similar problems that don’t involve this particular factor. It seems to me that this claim is evident from the facts mentioned earlier.
Saying that the cause of bias is that drinking is low-status is basically a shorthand for the above long-winded statement, with the added claim that the negative view of alcohol is to a large degree status-related, and that the apparent indifference towards certain dangerous behaviors similar to drunk driving is strongly reinforced by the fact that cracking down on them would mean condemnation and meddling into the lives of lots of high-status respectable folk. I agree that this latter point is harder to justify, and my personal view of it is influenced by personal observations and experiences that are hard to translate into formal written arguments.
A head start is sufficient to answer the second question. It is also at least as much as an answer as ‘status’. In both cases more detail is required. I am not taking a position here myself but if I wanted to find reasons for a ‘head start’ I would look at behvaioral trends at the time where this issue became a problem. Were people getting drunk or depriving themselves of 30 hours of sleep more often?