coragyps writes:
Now I fully understand the religion/origins and education correlations. but I'm not sure that I get the politics/origins - particularly as the first poll separates political stance from religious affiliation. Any ideas?
To me the connection between politics and origins makes perfect sense in the context of the "authoritarian personality". People on the right wing are tyically characterized as submitting to and identifying with authority figures and acts of "authority-imposition" (the corrollary being a hatred of and violence towards "outsider" groups). Hence the connection between right wing politics and various authoritarian activities such as militia support, gun ownership, anti-gay activism, pro-war, etc. etc.
It seems to me that this type of personality would be inclined both to submission to a God figure (the ultimate authority), and a hatred of the notion that human beings might simply be animals. The latter is based on the view that animals are somehow low, dirty and have no authority or power over human affairs; and also based on the view that animals are far removed from the authoritarian God and hence despised.
As a side-note, I think it's quite telling that Christianity tells us that man was created in the image of God; that man has dominion over nature (and over women); and that the animals and plants were put here for man's benefit. All of these ideas obviously appeal to the authoritarian personality!
Hence I would view authoritarianism (as a mode of personality) as an overarching bridge between right wing political views and rejection of evolution. These effects would persist with the removal of religious effects, because the underlying cause is the authoritarian personality and the desire to be all-powerful, dominating nature; and you can't dominate nature if you're a part of nature, can you? The religious affiliation is just another symptom of the personality type.
Mick
Here's a link on the "authoritarian personality". It's probably an outdated psychoanalytic concept by now, but I still like it. When you read the diagnosis of the personality type, a certain kind of EvC poster springs to mind...
quote:
* Conventionalism -- uncritical acceptance of social conventions and the rules of authority figures; adherence to the traditional and accepted
* Authoritarian Submission -- unqualified submission to authorities and authority figures
* Authoritarian Aggression -- hostility toward individuals or groups disliked by authorities, especially those who threaten or violate traditional values
* Anti-Subjectivity -- rejection of the subtle, imaginative and aesthetic; intellectual hollowness; little or no introspection
* Superstition and Stereotypy -- ready acceptance of pseudoscience as truth, cliché, categorization; ethnic and religious prejudice; fatalistic determinism
* Power and Toughness -- identification with those in power; excessive emphasis on socially advocated ego qualities; rejection of gentleness; contempt for the weak and powerless
* Destructiveness and Cynicism -- general hostility, extreme pessimism, view of the world as a dangerous place
* Projectivity -- belief in the dominance of evil in the world and to project unconscious emotional impulses outward
* Sex -- exaggerated concerns with respect to reproduction and sexual activity
Edited by mick, : Added link
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