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Cited by 268

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 32 of the 32 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.

Reputational Entrepreneurs and the Memory of Incompetence: Melting Supporters, Partisan Warriors, and Images of President Harding

Fine, Gary Alan·1996·American Journal of Sociology

Abstract

"Reputational entrepreneurs" attempt to control the memory of historical figures through motivation, narrative facility, and institutional placement. Whereas the study of those remembered as great or evil draws on Durkheimian Theory's consensus and cohesion, this does not explain the memory of the "incompetent." Reputational politics is an arena in which forces compete to control memory. Reputations are grounded in a social construction of character, subsequently generalized to policy and the character of the society. In the case of Warren G. Harding, the U.S. president rated lowest by historians and the public, political opponents set the agenda, while potential supporters did not defend him, given their political interests, structural positions, and a lack of credible narrative.

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Metadata

Authors
Fine, G. A.
Venue
American Journal of Sociology
Published
1996-03
Volume
101
Issue
5
Pages
1159-1193
ISSN
  • 0002-9602 (ISSN-L)
  • 1537-5390
OpenAlex
W2015298379
Cited by
268
References
32
FWCI
49.30
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed

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CoChat. (2026). Citation check: Reputational Entrepreneurs and the Memory of Incompetence: Melting Supporters, Partisan Warriors, and Images of President Harding. https://app.cochat.ai/papers/10.1086/230820
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Fine, G. A. (1996). Reputational Entrepreneurs and the Memory of Incompetence: Melting Supporters, Partisan Warriors, and Images of President Harding. American Journal of Sociology. https://doi.org/10.1086/230820

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Contains information from the Semantic Scholar Academic Graph Datasets, made available under the ODC Attribution License (ODC-BY 1.0).

Semantic Scholar’s data is described in: Kinney, R., et al. (2023). The Semantic Scholar Open Data Platform. arXiv:2301.10140.