num_pages: 304
description: Buried in many people and operating largely outside the realm of conscious thought are forces inclining us toward liberal or conservative political convictions. Our biology predisposes us to see and understand the world in different ways not always reason and the careful consideration of facts. These predispositions are in turn responsible for a significant portion of the political and ideological conflict that marks human history.With verve and wit renowned social scientists John Hibbing Kevin Smith and John Alford--pioneers in the field of biopolitics--present overwhelming evidence that people differ politically not just because they grew up in different cultures or were presented with different information. Despite the oft-heard longing for consensus unity and peace the universal rift between conservatives and liberals endures because people have diverse psychological physiological and genetic traits. These biological differences influence much of what makes people who they are including their orientations to politics.Political disputes typically spring from the assumption that those who do not agree with us are shallow misguided uninformed and ignorant. Predisposed suggests instead that political opponents simply experience process and respond to the world differently. It follows then that the key to getting along politically is not the ability of one side to persuade the other side to see the error of its ways but rather the ability of each side to see that the other is different not just politically but physically. Predisposed will change the way you think about politics and partisan conflict.As a bonus the book includes a Left/Right 20 Questions game to test whether your predispositions lean liberal or conservative.
language: English
title: Predisposed: Liberals, Conservatives, and the Biology of Political Differences
publisher: Routledge