I’ve been a Democrat/Liberal for as long as I can remember. I believe I read somewhere that political views such as Democrat or Republican, union supporter or detractor etc are established prior to age 12 (Maybe age 6) in most people.
I cannot find a source for this. Does anyone know of a source?
I am not asking for research, just hoping someone will know as you are all such bright people.
Well, I’m sure a lot of it has to do with your family. Just as most people are Penn State or New York Jets fans because “that’s what my family liked”, so too do most people I know generally follow their families politically. Of course, most young adults go through the liberal\rebellious"I know better than you" phase, especially at college, but I’ve noticed that most people “calm down” once they hit their late twenties.
I don’t have a source but it would be a shocker if it weren’t true. What we think depends on how we view things and the structure is largely formed by our earlier experiences.
You can take the boy out of the country but you can’t take the country out of the boy.
Bump, in hopes of an answer. This will be the only bump. I promise.
Sometimes, a political leaning will be the result of a more general philosophy. Where does the philosophy come from? Well, I’d look to life experiences and the person’s main influences. The family generally shapes both to a large extent.
(As an example of this, I became a Libertarian after I decided that my philosophies were more important than being a Republican. I couldn’t stomach some key positions the Republicans had taken, so I looked around until I found a party more in line with my pre-existing ideas. The Libertarian Party was the result of my search.)
Everyone in my family is a union-supporting liberal, and this is the environment I grew up in. I also grew up in poverty. I’ve escaped both of these, contrary to expectations. I’d really, truly like to know why. I should be a liberal, but for some reason I shudder when I say that. And really, I’m not trying to push buttons, but it really would make sense that I be a liberal, or at least a Democrat.
Having missed Derleth’s post prior to posting, I’d say he makes a lot of sense. It seems obvious where my morals and values come from. Of course that makes me wonder why my family is all so, well, tied to the Democratic party.
I’m not saying that Democrats are bad; I am saying that the Democratic Party of today isn’t the Democratic Party of my relatives’ (parents, aunts, uncles, older cousins) youth (think JFK). Rather they have no platform and are nothing close to being coherent and the Party comes exceptionally close to being a mere “coalition” party akin to lesser governments of some lesser countries (sorry, lesser countries).
Oh, and I’d proudly bear the Libertarian label myself if I thought there was ever a chance in hell of breaking the two-party system.
I guess I’m not answering myself too coherently…
It’s certainly not true in my case. In college I was a far-left liberal, then at 22 I “saw the light” and became a staunch conservative. Around the age of 30 I became a “conservative/libertarian.”
What is the best way to turn a democrat into a republican?
Give him/her a million dollars and tell them to hang on to it.
notfrommensa wrote
If you “don’t wish to get into a political debate,” then don’t you suppose it would be a good idea to discontinue spewing inflammatory political insults?
Or perhaps everyone should have a sense of humour and we wouldnt get political debates?
Back to the OP…
I have no cites, but I do not believe the OP to be true. There is a saying that goes something like “If you’re not a liberal the 1st 25 years of your life, you have no heart. If you’re not a conservative thereafter you’re have no brain”. In my experience, most people do tend to become more conservative as they get older. I know that my views on several major issues have moved to the right over the years. To say that political views are set in childhood does not jibe with what I observe in real life.
I think the OP would be true in most people’s cases for religion, but I doubt if it’s true in politics. Family upbringing certainly has a big influence on your political beliefs, as does your own personal (financial) situation, which is often the same for family members.
I think the idea that 12 yr old has political beliefs is a bit of a stretch. 16 maybe, but not 12 (at least not most 12 yr olds). Your brain actually goes thru physical changes at puberty, one of which is the full formation of the ability to think logically. Additionally, a child simply cannot have had the experiences necessary to form solid political opinions, let alone develop a sense of global issues, which is a large part of one’s political beliefs.
I don’t think the conjecture posed in the OP can be correct. No cite, but I can remember several political debates here where it has been claimed that person tend to identify more with liberal, and by extension Democratic, ideals as they gain higher college degrees. That is, a greater percentage of people holding doctorates self identify as liberals that those holding masters degrees. And the same pertains to masters vs. bachelor’s. If this is indeed true, then it would seem to falsify the OP.
Um… Not necessarily… I can think of two conjectures (they are in conflict, yet there are adherents of both) that would explain this without falsifying the OP.
C1: The sort of mind-set and world-view that favors a liberal ideology is also the sort of mind-set that is flexible and inquisitive enough to seek after higher education.
C2: The higher-education establishment is biased toward liberal ideology, and so all others are more likely to be weeded out or leave in a huff.
It is my opinion that a person’s basic, fundamental personality is largely defined before puberty. Kids of age 8 or so can be sorted into types: outgoing, shy, aggressive, passive, emotional, reflective, artistic, athletic, etc. etc. I think that the basic outlook on morality is defined at that age. That would be the emotional underpinnings of morality, as opposed to specific creeds and tenets. But those emotional underpinnings are highly correlated to liberal/conservative ideas.
Trinopus
This doesn’t (or does it?) explain Democrat turncoats like Ronald Reagan and Henry Kissinger.
I doubt the OP, given that many people shift their political views as they age. The classic stereotype is that people drift slowly from radical liberalism as young people into reactionary conservatism as senior citizens. That may be true in a significant number of cases, but there are also a number of “save the whales / ACLU / world peace” oldsters out there who were conservative-leaning middle-of-the-road or simply politically apathetic during their working years. The cynic might observe that they have to have something for a hobby, while the more hopeful might say something about age and wisdom.
If we’re going to quote pithy sayings, we might as well use this classic:
Often attributed, with various rewordings, and probably wrongly, to Winston Churchill. Also attributed to Benjamin Disraeli, which sounds more likely, but I wouldn’t bet on it.
I am an independent, and feel equally out of place in either the Republican or the Democratic parties. I tend to tilt left socially, and middle-to-right economically and on foreign affairs.
In my early adulthood, I was very far left culturally, no doubt in part a rebellion against my parents, both of whom were lifelong Republicans. Then for a while during college and shortly after, I considered myself far right – FWIW, this was when I began working in a very right-wing military environment, and newcomers were expected to ‘fit in’. I also think such a change is fairly common in young adults starting a career: the conservative emphasis on self-interest over community becomes more appealing.
I’m 44, and I was in my early 30s before I arrived at the political self definitions that I hold now. I would say the age at which you decide your politics depends on lots of variables, including your parents’ views; your relationship with your parents; if and when you have children; the allegiances you form in life; and things that happen to you (the old dual joke still applies: a conservative is a liberal who’s been mugged; a liberal is a conservative who’s been falsely arrested or laid off).
This is generally attributed to Churchill. Another similar quote, from Phil Ochs, is his definition of a liberal: “Ten degrees to the left in the best of times, ten degrees to the right when it involves him personally.”
Some years back I read about a study in the Economist. Unfortunately, I have been unable to track it down, despite some effort.
To the best of my memory:
The puzzle presented was why certain political discussions get so heated, despite their often-sparse factual grounding.
It was hypothesized that some guys signal their nurturing tendencies by leaning left. Other guys signal their wealth potential by aligning themselves with the right end of the political spectrum.
The fact that political activity tends to decline with age was interpreted as supporting this hypothesis: those who are shacked up are in less need of signaling devices.
Surveys with college students were also constructed. IIRC, most agreed that while they wouldn’t choose a mate based on political affiliation, Republicans were likelier to be better bread-winners, why Democrats were likelier to be (um) kinder and gentler.
The article dated from the early 1990s, again IIRC.
Nonetheless, I believe that the origins of political affiliation remain a puzzle.