Have you ever wondered why Americans, some Americans, have seemingly abandoned democracy?
How they can allow the destruction of this nation to proceed without voicing their displeasure?
Why is this?
Many have taken democracy for granted, forgetting how fragile it is. Yet across the world, support for its most basic principles (free elections, free speech, political equality) is eroding. The democratic institutions that brought more prosperity than ever before are sliding, and it’s not clear why.
A new study published in the Annals of the New York Academy of Sciencessuggests that the threat does not come from a single political ideology. Instead, it arises from the psychological forces that drive people both to defend the system and to tear it down in a simplistic fashion.
“Despite growing concern about the erosion of democratic values worldwide, we do not have a solid understanding of the psychological underpinnings of antidemocratic attitudes,” Artur Nilsson, a professor of psychology at the University of Bergen and Linköping University, who led the study with colleague Ali Teymoori, told PsyPost. “The present study set out to bring together and compare the most influential explanations, offering a more unified understanding of why people might turn against principles of liberal democracy.”
Nilsson’s team surveyed 824 adults in the United Kingdom, asking them about their beliefs and attitudes toward democracy. Participants answered questions that probed everything from their openness to new information to their willingness to justify violence or censorship.
The researchers found that antidemocratic attitudes don’t belong exclusively to the political left or right. Rather, they emerge from two opposing but psychologically similar worldviews.
The first, called system-justifying, includes authoritarian and dominance-oriented beliefs. These are the views that emphasize obedience, hierarchy, and the protection of established norms. These individuals were more likely to support censorship or restricting civil liberties to maintain order. These are the ones that try to support the establishment.
Do you agree with the article?
If not then what do you think is causing the abandonment of democracy by so many?
I Read, I Write, You Know
“lego ergo scribo”
Ignorance, Apathy and over-concern for instant self gratification are the keystones to the demise of America as we have known Her.
Sounds like a logical assumption. chuq
also an appalling lack of education in the schools not just about the Revolution or the Civil War (which always seems to be the last thing taught in any history class, in May…) but no one ever (at least as I can recall) dug into the world wars, the Korean war, any of the later stuff. So many kids have or had relatives who fought in those wars, parents whose lives changed because of them…but come June we just wrap up the Civil War and that’s it. History for us seems to stop there.
Judy you are so right….and even documentaries white wash so much of our history….a good education is essential and as long as thew GOP is around the word ‘good’ means nothing. chuq
I read the article. Extremes on the Left and Right have often converged, especially in one-party states like the USSR or Nazi Germany. The main difference today I feel is the impact of social media. The daily torrent of racism, attacks on individuals for their beliefs or religion, and the lack of awareness of everyday life and customs in other countries, which particularly applies to the many Americans who never travel abroad.
Best wishes, Pete.
Excellent point….social media has been in charge of the death of this nation. chuq
This is fascinating. I am going to be sharing a book I’m reading right now that also sheds some light on it as well…our country has 42 million people who depend on food stamps to eat. They are poor. They struggle to survive. Some cheat, or commit fraud to get government benefits. They blame “others” for their plight. They will respond to someone who promises to take care of them again, who finds “enemies” for them to hate – giving them someone to blame for their failure. Racism and sexism is the easiest, but the more excluded they feel from the “great American dream”, the more willing they are to blame it on those “others”, and respond to the ugliness perpetrated by the “leaders”
I see this in my state of Mississippi…..Donny’s policies hurt them personally and yet they flock to his side….it is disgusting…..chuq
And they will try to blame the “others” for it, whether Democrats of immigrants…sad state of affairs indeed for all of us
American politics is a blame game….no matter the party. chuq
Agree – both are SO tiring. Just get something done
Most Americans have been saying that for a decade or more…..will they get it done? chuq
sadly NO
It appears that you are spot on…….chuq