Berkley Moral Politics Summary

The authors offer two forms of explanations as to why this occurs. One is that couples are actually not politically similar when they meet, but after several years of being together their thoughts and ideas merge into one, making them consequently have the same political views. The second explanation is that the circumstances that they met under and started dating under was probably due to the fact that they were from the same socio-demographics. Like for instance education, wealth, and age. This social homogony then leads to a similar political view. They also stated that even if the mating paired groups were narrowed and restricted, they would still be politically similar, this is then found to also be true across cultures (Hibbling et al.

Summary: In chapter 1 of Moral Politics talks about that politics is about your own world view. The political division between republican and democrat is based on morality. Morality is based on the type of family backgrounds you have or family model you have such as strict father and nurturing father. And these models explain what “common sense” you have in mind, which you may not even aware of. Chapter two talks about the personal worldview problem for american politics, it will bring the questions that either you're more conservative or liberal. Both sides have their own views. It talks about why do conservatives think that morality should be their agenda. Liberals also have a paradoxical position even they also hold a moral position on

Many people have different opinions on political subjects. The ways a person may feel about these subjects determine what they are in the political world. I personally do not follow politics like other people older than me do, but I do consider myself to be a moderate democrat. Both of my parents are democrats, and they choose to be of this political spectrum because they feel like the Democratic Party represents them. They feel as they stand for policies that will better them as people. With me, I am my own person so I take in the considerations of my parents’ choice, but also make my own decisions. I do believe in some of the policies and ideas of the Democratic Party, but disagree on

The ideals and the composition of liberals and conservatives are radically different at times, and yet these same beliefs work together to make up the basic framework of American political thought. They both have the same goals for prosperity and yet they have polar opposite ways of achieving them. Ideologically, they are at odds with the size of government and the role that it plays. Some want big government that provides for people, while others elect for a small government that does not interfere with the lives of people. As is expected liberals tend to vote for certain issues that conservatives will disagree with and vice versa. Of course the issues are not random, each side will vote for and against particular kinds of issues.

After explaining the metaphorical and cognitive basis of our daily interaction, Lakoff applied conceptual metaphor to the analysis of political motivating thoughts. In 1996 Lakoff introduced his book entitled moral politics: How Liberals and Conservatives Think, in which he introduced an influential metaphorical framework for realizing American political way of thinking. Lakoff makes benefit from the techniques of cognitive linguistics for a better understanding of the mental framework that underlie the contemporary American politics, Lakoff defines the mental concepts that make up a ‘Democrats’ and that of the ‘Republicans’. For Lakoff the ‘Democrats’ morals and political thoughts are superior to ‘Republican’ morals and policy.

Resnick believes that partisanship pushes us to dehumanize “them.” If someone is on our side we are more likely to call them human. However, research says this is not our fault, because it is the brain following a pattern. We find it hard to empathize with the opposition. If assigned a group we automatically like our team better. In contrast, we see the other team as less and we are more likely to dehumanize them. Resnick says in partisanship we show the other team less sympathy, remember them less accurately, and some even enjoy their pain. It was later observed

In Chapters 2-4 of Political Communication Rhetoric, Government, and Citizens by Dan F. Hahn, the author talks about the different ideologies and talks about definitions. According to Hahn, ideology is society’s belief structure. Ideology can be used in arguments and an example Hahn provided would be apples because of it’s complexity in regards to the variety and so on. One form of ideology is political ideology. Political ideology is society’s political belief structure. The two primary political ideologies in the United States are liberalism and conservatism. Liberalism is founded by two religious arguments and those two arguments are we are created free by God; no one lower can command us and one can make a good mistake as long as one choose between right and wrong. For conservatism, it’s founded by the rules that God provide for humans; no one lower can alter the rules and one can make a good mistake as long as it is in

The conservative movement has played a crucial role in American politics in the post war era. Ronald Story and Bruce Laurie indentify various elements of the American conservatism. These elements include challenging authoritarian governments and modernist culture, upholding tradition, Christian religion and the rule of law, defending western civilization, and supporting republicanism. American conservatism has been characterized by competing ideologies and tension throughout history. The Americans who are politically liberal and economically conservative favor free trade, minimal state intervention, low taxes, and a small government. On the other hand, conservatives hold the view that American traditional values are normally undermined by

George Lakoff has a very unique was of looking at moral politics. He attempts to dissect the views of the liberal party and the views of the conservative parties in today’s society. Liberals believe that the government should take action to achieve equal opportunity and equality for all. The liberal party claims the duty of the government is to alleviate social problems and to protect civil liberties and human rights. Also, they believe the role of the government should be to guarantee that no one is in need. The need for the government to solve problems is what the liberal party emphasizes on. On the other hand, Conservatives believe in a system made of personal responsibility, limited government, free markets, individual liberty, traditional American values and a strong national defense. A conservative generally believes the role of government should be to provide people the freedom necessary to pursue their own goals but to not get in the way of personal freedom. Conservative policies generally emphasize empowerment of the individual to solve problems on their own. Both sides being so completely opposite raises the question of which of the two views is correct for handling different aspects in society such as taxes, abortion, capital punishment etc? Lakoff’s two models known as the strict father model and the nurturant family model strive to relate the conservative and liberal views to explain how a conservative and liberal would

In an earlier paper Haidt and Graham(2007) found that for extreme liberals, Harm / Care and Fairness / Reciprocity where almost always relivent, however those who are extremely conservative find that they value all five more equally when making moral choice. This correlates almost perfectly with the earlier paper from Graham, Haidt and Nosek(2009), showing that the findings seem highly reliable. Haidt and Graham(2007) go on to say that the recognition of the final three moral foundations(Ingroup / Loyalty, Authority / Respect and Purity / Sanctity) is key to allowing more fair and even discussions between the two political standpoints.

Different ideologies tend to appeal to different demographic characteristics such as gender, class, race, etc. because a person’s background will affect which system of ideas they most closely align with. Liberalism and conservatism, for example, are ideologies that regularly contradict each other, because they appeal to different demographics based upon many factors such as class, race, gender, religion, etc. The general worldview of liberalism is that people have individual rights and liberty, while promoting progress. On the other hand, conservatism places greater importance of keeping tradition and strict regulation of rules. In determining the extent of appeal to different demographics, one must assess the ways in which both ideologies

Cronin states that “the American people will never be completely satisfied with their politicians, nor should they be. The ideal politician is a fiction because the ideal politician would be able to please absolutely everyone and make conflicts disappear.” (pg 307) However, we know this can never happen. Most families today can’t agree on what to have for dinner and we expect them to try to figure out a political party they want to support and then with that party who do they want to vote for.

personal beliefs and past experiences, political figures have been able to shape their own view of

The earliest experience society has with authority and leadership is within their own family. Often times the running of households is compared to the running of one’s country in the sense of each individual’s self reliance, hard work, and personal responsibility. The driving force behind political differences and beliefs can be dictated back to the way one was brought up. The question of how people can analyze the same issue and draw polar opposite conclusions is often the basis for all theories and methods researchers have proposed. The unbridgeable divide between the Republican and Democratic parties in the recent presidential election support the hypothesis of hidden assumptions and frames that dictate how every individual thinks about politics, all being shaped by personal values. The metaphor of America being one big family is drawn into the fact that many consider families to be governing bodies and governing bodies to play the role of parents within a household, thus drawing the conclusion that governing institutions are families in the greater scheme of things. Researchers have discovered two main family dynamic

Political culture refers to believes, feeling and how people think they should act about government. In the US political culture lays some core ideals and values which are of course not shared by all the Americans. However, the two shared political values in the US by vast majority the regardless of race, creed, national origin are liberty and democracy. In most political debates, there is a tendency to come up with the best framework on how best to achieve these ideals and values assert (Schudson, 271).