Study Reveals Cultural Characteristics of the Tea Party Movement

[pampango]

(These results are not surprising but interesting none the less.)

http://www.newswise.com/articles/study-reveals-cultural-characteristics-of-the-tea-party-movement

American voters sympathetic to the Tea Party movement reflect four primary cultural and political beliefs more than other voters do: authoritarianism, libertarianism, fear of change, and negative attitudes toward immigrants and immigration, according to new research to be presented at the 106th Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Association.

Researchers found that respondents who felt positively toward the Tea Party movement held the following primary cultural and political dispositions more often than other voters did:
• Authoritarianism: respondents believe that obedience by children is more important than creativity, and that deference to authority is an important value.
• Libertarianism: respondents believe there should not be regulations or limitations on expressions such as clothing, television shows, and musical lyrics.
• Fear of change/ontological insecurity: respondents sense that things are changing too fast or too much.
• Nativism: respondents hold negative attitudes toward immigrants and immigration.

[snooper2]

1. And they are mostly older, mostly white, and will mostly be gone in 20 years

I wish somebody would do a study on how may generations it takes for a racist family to die off...

-percentages on the number of children who adopt their parents belief system and how that is shrinking over time.

[Ezlivin]

2. My parents are prime examples

My dad, 81, and my mom, 75 are avid Fox watchers and hang on every word that oozes from O'Reilly's mouth. Nearly every discussion I have with them contains at least one declaration from my mother that "Obama is ruining _________" Naturally, when pressed for details she falls silent. Facts aren't their strong point, emotions are.

[gratuitous]

3. Oh, that they would be gone

But folks have been predicting the passing of the authoritarian/libertarian split personality since before I was alive, and they remain an irreducible (seemingly) segment of our society. Some children growing up in such a household will inevitably reject the philosophy, events and experiences of life surely create new adherents to the mindset.

It's odd, though: on the one hand, there is a craving for an "authority" that differentiates the right from the wrong, the good from the bad; and on the other hand, there is an aversion to that same "authority" ordering society on the side perceived as "right." At least, insofar as the ordering of society is perceived to be the oppressive hand of government.

[dmallind]

6. But in large measure replaced by more

People tend to get more conservative with age, whether they are liberal in youth or not. Change is more difficult and uncomfortable the later in life it happens, and blaming things on the young is a truism for the silver-haired that stretches back not centuries but millennia - as we can see from ancient Greek writings. When the young are a few shades browner and more polyglot than your own generation, looking down on the young and looking down on minorities and immigrants meld into one. My own dad is an example - a union shop steward and proud supporter of (real, not US imaginary) socialist nationalized industries in the 70s (as I learned about politics, I was quite a bit to his right in those days but then again so was the ghost of Eugene Debs), his last vote was for the BNP and he blames all of the UK's ills on foreigners and minorities (I am a huge way to his left now - and yet my own politics have changed little so far - and what change there has been is probably slightly rightward).

[renegade000]

4. authoritarian libertarians... that does seem apt.

What drives me up the wall about most American "libertarians" is that they argue for more economic freedom for the wealthy and advantaged who already have the most economic freedom... at the expensive of programs that would promote opportunity and economic freedom for the non-wealthy. these so-called libertarians never seem to realize that while they fears of oppressive socialist/communist governments are not without historical merit, these states are relatively rare and recent in the grand scheme of human history. it's usually been the case where freedom has been crushed by a cadre of wealthy oligarchs (strong-men, feudal lords, etc).

we should be straight up asking people this. yes, liberty and freedom can be crushed in these two ways, by overreaching government trying to meddle too much economically or by wealth imbalance in which the very few control most of the wealth... which do you think describes the current situation? ok sure, you say fox news tells you it's the first... and WHO OWNS FOX?

[Erose999]

5. Libertarianism: respondents believe there should not be regulations or limitations on expressions

such as clothing, television shows, and musical lyrics."

----------

This is completely untrue of every single one of the Teabaggers I know. They will constantly rant about "sagging jeans" or anything else appearancewise that is outside white/conservative norms. And they go on and on about music, TV, etc that they find "unamerican" or "against Jesus".

If it were up to the Tea Party we'd all be dressed in khakis and golf shirts and the only music would be Pat Boone and the only channels on TV would be Fox News and the Pat Robertson channel.

[Volaris]

7. .."there should not be regulations or limitations on expressions..

such as clothing, television shows, and musical lyrics."...

FOR THEM. ALWAYS and ONLY for them...

That kid with the baggy jeans and the "devil" music? Yeah not so much..

[gkhouston]

8. Perhaps they don't want *their* choices regulated. Others are not important. n/t

[UTUSN]

9. K&R #6 but as with most sociology, most of us could have

reached these conclusions through our own observations, with spicier labels.

[jwirr]

10. I like this study but I think they are not using a good criteria for determining

libertarianism. They are asking about limitations on ever day items not limits on economics, environmental and other political issues. I would guess you would find a lot of Democrats who express the same ideas about clothes, tv and musical lyrics. The Tbaggers are political libertarians.

Isn't being authoritarian and libertarian at the same time an oxymoron? Split personality.

[Ikonoklast]

11. Not really, they guard their own personal freedom, but also retain the right

to dictate to others how they should live their lives.


Hypocrites more than anything else, I would say.