Threats, Anxieties, Ingredients of Conservativism

[SoCalDem]

http://www.miller-mccune.com/culture_society/threats-anxieties-ingredients-of-conservativism-1703

Threats, Anxieties Ingredients of Conservativism

Conservative ideas, like support for the status quo and justifications for inequality, can make the world seem like a more secure place for those who don't like uncertainty.

By: Lee Drutman | January 12, 2010 | 05:00 AM (PST)
Over the past year, a conservative right-wing movement has found a loud political voice in the United States. Strongly anti-government, the movement seems largely oriented around a message that anything the Obama administration wishes to accomplish is an attack on American tradition, and it is up to them to stop this radical socialist agenda emanating from Washington to preserve the country.

This burst of activity has left some asking where such a rush of conservative energy might come from. Is it a response to the anxiety and uncertainty of tough economic times? Does having an African-American president have anything to do with it? According to some new research on the cognitive origins of political conservatism, the answers may be yes and yes.

Miriam Matthews, a doctoral candidate in social psychology at the Claremont Graduate University, Shana Levin, an associate profess of psychology at Claremont McKenna College, and Jim Sidanius, a professor of psychology and African-American studies at Harvard University, have found evidence that both general feelings of threat and specific anxiety about other ethnic groups sometimes do lead individuals to embrace two tenets of political conservatism — support for the status quo and a belief that there is a natural social hierarchy to society. These tenets provide a salve for uncertainties and anxieties by offering a belief system in which there is a strong order to things.

This theory was originally elaborated in a 2003 paper, "Political conservatism as motivated social cognition," by John T. Jost and colleagues. They posit that individuals embrace political conservatism to satisfy internal needs for order, structure and closure in the face of uncertainty, complexity and fear. The paper was based on a meta-analysis of numerous studies showing that people who were more uncomfortable with complexity and ambiguity generally tended to also be more conservative. (For more on Jost's work, see here and here.)

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[murielm99]

1. I like order, structure and closure, too.

I am a Virgo.

I confine my need for order to keeping a clean, smoothly running household. I confine my need for structure to my work and the way I pay attention to detail and record keeping.

Closure is such an overused word that I can't stand the sound of it any more. They all lived happily ever after? Huh? Who does that?

Any time humans interact with each other, it is going to be messy. Marriages are messy. Friendships are messy. Politics are messy, because humans are involved in it.

If they cannot tolerate the uncertainties of human interaction, conservatives are really not very human or humane.

[Stargazer99]

2. It has been my observation

Those of only average intellect cannot stand complexity or uncertainty...as to why I'm not sure

[GreenMetalFlake]

3. For those types, confronting another who they suspect 'knows' more is very threatening

And nervous people are often hostile, dangerous people.