Does geography determine your politics?

[zanana]

I've always wondered why most people in Texas are conservative and most people in Massachusetts are liberal. Do we just grow up that way? Is it the need to "belong" that determines our politics? What if I move from Massachusetts to Texas. Does that mean I'll eventually become a conservative? WTF?

[AP]

1. I have a feeling that local media drives local opinion and local media

is driven by whatever makes local businesses rich.

During the Vietnam war, most of the big defense contractors were in the south and west. There were few defense contractors in the northeast.

There's obviously a stronger anti-communist culture that fits that geographic pattern too, but, again, I wonder how much is driven by a financial interest in perpetuating that culture by those with the power to influence the culture.

[JohnKleeb]

2. Its basic pyschology actually

Called the socio-culural approach. I agree it could affect your politics but I am Northern Virginia while its not Texas, its conservative for me despite our diversity, I am lol a person who has a copy of the communist manifesto and no I aint a communist, I am however pretty far left.

[zanana]

4. JohnKleeb--Where can I go to learn about socio-cultural approach?

This topic really fascinates me, because I think it could answer so many questions. How did you learn about this approach and are there any websites that you know of that concentrate on this?

[JohnKleeb]

6. class lol

I am a Junior in High School and I take pyschology. Its like the behavioral approach that Watson thought of except geography has a basis on it. Well I can show you my notes sometime. I dont have them on me.

[zanana]

7. Could've fooled me!

Maybe that's why I still have so many questions--I haven't talked to enough high school Juniors! Way to go, JohnKleeb!

[JohnKleeb]

8. lol thanks

I got a B+ in it right now.

[BrotherBuzz]

15. One very good source is...

a book called ALBION'S SEED: Four British Folkways In America by David Hackett Fischer. New York: Oxford University Press, 1989.

Do a google search to read a book review, then run to the library. Believe me, your question will be answered. I read this book fifteen years ago and found his theories fascinating. Professor Fisher really presents some great ideas that appear to be sound and very well documented.

[Fixated]

3. ....

My area is Catholic Republican. If anything I stick out around here.

[Brucey]

5. Political philosophy, like everything about people,

is influenced by a number of variables, believe it or not, including genetics. Where you live, of course, can have an influence, but it can be out-weighed by factors such as your education, family, peers, and personal experiences (Vietnam, e.g.). Most people mature politically during their late teens and twenties, so world events happening at that time have a larger influence than at other ages. Peer group is a powerful influence, but choice of peers is also influenced by hereditary factors such as temperament, cognitive style, and skin color.

[calm_blue_ocean]

9. Do politics determine your geography?

Your question has a bit of chicken and egg character. I think that politics can determine geography, more than the reverse. Two examples from my personal experience:

EXAMPLE 1: When I went to grad school at Berkeley, many of my fellow students seemed to be attracted by Berkeley's reputation as a liberal place. Of course, many of these students ended up staying in the Bay Area when they finished school.

EXAMPLE 2: My liberal spouse and I moved to a very conservative Midwestern city (not Dallas) at one point. We did not fit in. We left for this reason after a year and a half.

As far as how a place initially becomes liberal or conservative, it is probably economic factors at the start. If you moved to Texas in the 1840s, chances are that you were pretty comfortable with a slave based economy. If you moved to Houston in the 20th century, then chances are better than average that you would be sympathetic to big oil companies. Another personal experience: when I worked for a military contractor in Dallas, my coworkers tended to favor military spending.

The economics of a region determine who is likely to fit in and not fit in. At some point in a region's history, the politics probably become self-perpetuating -- like when the Manchester Union Leader and its Repub readership causes some folks to flee to Massachusetts.

My prediction: if you move to Austin, you'll probably stay in Texas. If you move to Dallas, then you will find some excuse to leave after a bit.

Disclaimer: I liked living in Dallas very much at the time (late 80s). Maybe I was less politicized then, but the only time that political thing that really bothered me there was excessive zeal for the death penalty.

[dofus]

10. To an extent.

You are, of course, influenced by many things, and where you live, the local culture, the people around you, all matter in shaping your world view.

But as JohnKleeb points out, you're also affected by what you get to study in school. As Calm_Blue_Ocean points out, where you live makes a difference.

I've lived in various parts of the country, have always been fairly liberal and am getting more so as I get older. I'm currently 55 (have a kid who's a high school junior myslef) and live near Kansas City, Missouri, on the Kansas side of the border. Over all, this area is quite conservative, although we do have a Democratic Congressman (not very liberal, however). But the Dean meetups keep on growing every month. Kucinich seems to have pretty good support also. Al Franken, Molly Ivins, and Michael Moore, just to name a few, get full houses, turn away crowds, when they come to town.

After our youngest is through with school, my husband and I hope to relocate somewhere more like us politically.

[JohnKleeb]

11. no that wasnt my point

My point is that yes geography does affect you through the socio-cultural approach.

[calm_blue_ocean]

12. Question / comments on the sociocultural approach

As far as I can tell, "sociocultural" refers to things (eg, values, skills, mores) that arise out of social and/or cultural interactions. You are saying that regional differences in politics are "sociocultural." By this, do you mean:

(A) When a group of politically similar people live near each other, they tend to have a relatively large number of social and cultural interactions with each other. These social and cultural interactions will perpetuate the dominant political outlook to political minorities and future generations.

OR, do you mean:

(B) people in different regions interact with each other infundamentally different ways. Social interactions pass through different channels (eg, face-to-face versus telephone) in different regions. There are different types of cultural exchanges (novels versus oral tradition) in different regions. These kinds of differences account for why some places are more Democrat and some more Republican.

MY CRITIQUE:

If you mean (A), then that is just common sense. We see a lot of DUers who say, "I come from a long line of Democrats." However, (A) is weak in that it doesn't explain why some places skew liberal and other skew republican. All (A) says is that once you have a political tendency, then that tendency will perpetuate itself. So as far as interpretation (A) goes, like the kids say nowadays: "duh."

If you mean (B), I mostly disagree. There are probably fewer churches per capita in Berkeley than in, say, Kansas City. However, I would say that the types (as opposed to the content) of sociocultural interactions are generally pretty uniform -- much more uniform than the political differences we are trying to explain here.

(B) is an interesting theory, though. Might apply more to generational political differences. For example, political messages sent by IM might be systematically different than political messages communicated at labor union meetings. However, this seems more like a generational difference in communication than a regional difference.

[library_max]

13. Speaking as a non-native Texas liberal

The peer pressure here is harsh. There aren't very many people to talk politics with who don't just openly sneer at mine. It was worse in east Texas (near Beaumont), but south Texas is pretty bad. If I wasn't in academia, I'd have to do all my political discussion on DU.

[HFishbine]

14. Yes

It's because I've seen first hand the results of mean-spiritedness, anti-intellectual, anti-environment and anti-labor policies of southern republicans that I'm a progressive.

[carpetbagger]

16. Absolutely. You won't become conservative, but your kids will.

It's peer pressure. I get it all the time in Texas (native New Yorker by way of FL, MD and WV). It's not that I can't handle having right wing friends (I've had many in my life), but especially following the terrorist attacks, there's kind of a list of opinions that everyone's supposed to have, and dissent (not militant dissent, merely failing to go along with the game) is dealt with in the form of sneers, degradation, and condescension. I've managed to tuck myself into a social network that self-selects on activities, hobbies, and volunteer work, a group outside the mainstream.

However, children don't generally handle the peer pressure too well. In most Texas schools, there are "kickers" and there are "freaks". Freaks obviously include non-fundamentalists, democrats, minorities (although Latino acceptance is pretty high in many parts of Texas), and the like, but even the slightest comment out of line is enough to get glares. So your answer is that you won't become a conservative, but your kids probably will.

Geography plays only a part in the mix. Certainly, family background (including religious upbringing), local geography (city, inner suburb, outer suburb, neighborhood income), and occupation plays a role, but these factors proably explain most of the reasons people hold generally liberal or conservative views.