Oh, they're supposed to be poor

By: Jennifer Foster | Opelika Auburn News
Published: May 13, 2008 | 0 Comments | Post a Comment

Two New York University researchers are taking a stab at explaining the conventional wisdom that holds that conservatives are happier people than liberals:

They just rationalize social and economic inequalities.

According to the story:

Conservatives also scored highest on measures of rationalization, which gauge a person's tendency to justify, or explain away, inequalities.

The rationalization measure included statements such as: "It is not really that big a problem if some people have more of a chance in life than others," and "This country would be better off if we worried less about how equal people are."

The researchers say liberals apparently "lack ideological rationalizations that would help them frame inequality in a positive (or at least neutral) light," leaving them "frustrated and disheartened," according to the story.

Hmm ...

Maybe, since conservative political ideology places more emphasis on the individual work ethic, whereas liberal political ideology believes in more of a government role to make upward mobility possible. But regarding the overall sense of "happiness" conservatives seem to enjoy, it would seem to me that researchers are missing out on one major potential explanation: The religious component that present in many conservatives' lives.

The rationalization argument implies that conservatives simply look at things like homelessness, hunger, homelessness and poverty and say, "Oh, they're getting what they deserve because they are slackers," or some form of that argument. This denies the teachings of their religion underpinnings, which say that problems like these are opportunities for Christian ministry and that there is a source of greater hope that can provide joy even in the face of persistent, pervasive societal problems.

I'm not saying that all conservatives are religious or that no liberals are religious. But taken as a group, more conservatives are conscious of religion in their lives than liberals. I'm just saying that it seems strange to not account for that component when trying to determine why -- or whether -- conservatives are "happier" as a group than liberals.

Read the whole story here. What do you think?