Do you not think that "right wing" is an over simplification - a description of a group of characteristics that are often but not always found together. Supporters of the theory of evolutionary psychology are often described as right-wing despite the fact that a huge proportion are atheists and feel that wealth does not bring happiness. You know that there are people who make judgements on individual issues based on evidence rather than always buying the whole package.
3:23 PM, November 02, 2006
Anonymous said...
Well, I haven't read the original work, but the summary sure sounds simplistic.
I've always understood that political orientation is formed around the age of 12. Arthur Schlesinger Jr. wrote a bood about 15 years ago called The Cycles of American History, where he hypothesized that US history goes through 20 year cycles of liberal to conservative dominance and back again. He said this is because the children who come of political age in, say, a conservative age become opinion leaders about 40 years later. According to Schlesinger, we were due for a liberal resurgence in 2000.
10:07 PM, November 02, 2006
Patterns that Connect has a lengthy post that tries to get at why right-wingers act the way they do. He offers a personality psychology explanation, invoking Altemeyer's Right Wing Authoritarianism (RWA) and Social dominance orientation. Here's an excerpt: Other findings by Altemeyer can be categorized under "Faulty reasoning" — RWAs are more likely to: * Make many incorrect inferences from evidence. * Hold contradictory ideas leading them to ‘speak out of both sides of their mouths.’ * Uncritically accept that many problems are ‘our most serious problem.’ * Uncritically accept insufficient evidence that supports their beliefs. * Uncritically trust people who tell them what they want to hear. * Use many double standards in their thinking and judgements.This readily explains how the few feeble examples that Noonan provides can convince many conservatives that it is liberals who do all the things that conservatives actually do far more often, and far more systematically.So is this just a fancy way of saying right wingers are wired that way? But why? What causes this? What combination of genetic predisposition, formative experiences, reaction to certain social circumstances, exposure to specific religious images and ideologies contribute to it? I'd be interested in seeing twins studies and adopted vs. biological child studies on political orientations. What would also be interesting to me is qualitative research on people who transfer into or out of a right wing mindset. I'd also be interested in some evolutionary psychology on the advantages and disadvantages this mindset might have enjoyed in the ancestral condition.
It seems to me that authoritarianism is a massive problem for the modern, limited government, rights-based nation-state to deal with.
posted by Zachary Drake at 11:24 AM on Nov 2, 2006
"Psychopathology of the right-wing mindset"
3 Comments -
Do you not think that "right wing" is an over simplification - a description of a group of characteristics that are often but not always found together. Supporters of the theory of evolutionary psychology are often described as right-wing despite the fact that a huge proportion are atheists and feel that wealth does not bring happiness. You know that there are people who make judgements on individual issues based on evidence rather than always buying the whole package.
3:23 PM, November 02, 2006
Well, I haven't read the original work, but the summary sure sounds simplistic.
9:38 PM, November 02, 2006
I've always understood that political orientation is formed around the age of 12. Arthur Schlesinger Jr. wrote a bood about 15 years ago called The Cycles of American History, where he hypothesized that US history goes through 20 year cycles of liberal to conservative dominance and back again. He said this is because the children who come of political age in, say, a conservative age become opinion leaders about 40 years later. According to Schlesinger, we were due for a liberal resurgence in 2000.
10:07 PM, November 02, 2006