Are Conservatives Happier Than Liberals?
Jeanna Bryner,
Posted: 2008-05-07 20:07:48
Filed Under: Politics News, Science News
LiveScience.com
(May 7) - Individuals with conservative ideologies are happier than
liberal-leaners, and new research pinpoints the reason: Conservatives
rationalize social and economic inequalities.
Regardless of marital status, income or church attendance, right-wing
individuals re****ted greater life satisfaction and well-being than
left-wingers, the new study found. 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."
To justify economic inequalities, a person could sup****t the idea of
meritocracy, in which people supposedly move up their economic status
in society based on hard work and good performance. In that way, one's
social class attainment, whether upper, middle or lower, would be
perceived as totally fair and justified.
If your beliefs don't justify gaps in status, you could be left
frustrated and disheartened, according to the researchers, Jaime
Napier and John Jost of New York University. They conducted a U.S.-
centric survey and a more internationally focused one to arrive at the
findings.
"Our research suggests that inequality takes a greater psychological
toll on liberals than on conservatives," the researchers write in the
June issue of the journal Psychological Science, "apparently because
liberals lack ideological rationalizations that would help them frame
inequality in a positive (or at least neutral) light."
The results sup****t and further explain a Pew Research Center survey
from 2006, in which 47 percent of conservative Republicans in the U.S.
described themselves as "very happy," while only 28 percent of liberal
Democrats indicated such cheer.
The same rationalizing phenomena could apply to personal situations as
well.
"There is no reason to think that the effects we have identified here
are unique to economic forms of inequality," the researchers write.
"Research suggests that highly egalitarian women are less happy in
their marriages compared with their more traditional counterparts,
apparently because they are more troubled by disparities in domestic
labor."
The current study was funded by the National Science Foundation.
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