It is an opinion, Red State, Blue State, Tight State, and Loose State

Why is the American political system polarized now? Lene Aaroe’s reply on “When and why we see victims as responsible”

One of the notable dynamics of American life today is that conservatives report being personally happier than liberals but also seem more politically discontented. As progressive culture seems more shadowed by unhappiness and even mental illness, the political left is more invested in experts and establishments. Meanwhile conservatives claim greater contentment in their private lives — and then go out and vote for paranoid outsiders and burn-it-down populists.

When I asked Lene Aaroe why the American political system is so polarized now, she said that it’s because of the longstanding liberal-conservative schism. What is the cause of the intense hostility between left and right?

In her emailed reply, Niemi contended that sensitivity to various types of threat is a key factor in driving differences between the far left and far right. She cited research that

found 47 percent of the most extreme conservatives strongly endorsed the view that “The world is becoming a more and more dangerous place,” compared to 19 percent of the most extreme liberals. Being threatened by the world correlated with support for a Muslim ban and a US-Mexico wall. But if perceived threat were measured by endorsement of the statement “The U.S. is becoming a more and more dangerous place,” the results would likely look different — liberals, thinking of gun violence, may appear very high in threat perception.

Liberals and conservatives have different moral priorities, with liberals placing more stress on caring, kindness, fairness and rights, known as Individualizing Values, while conservatives focus more on loyalty, hierarchy, deference to authority and a higher standard of sanctity.

the values oriented around group preservation, are associated with judgments, decisions, and interpersonal orientations that sacrifice the welfare of individuals. There is a tendency to excuse and victims are linked to a variety of harmful acts.

A paper she and Young co-authored was titled “When and why we see victims as responsible: The impact of ideology on attitudes toward victims.”

The Evolution of Liberalism, Conservatism and Other Social-Cultural Differences: What Happened to the US People that Live in a Moral World?

Various factors could affect the evolution of liberalism, conservatism and other social-cultural differences. What happened to people ecologically affected social-political developments, including the content of the rules people made and how they enforced them. Just as ecological factors differing from region to region over the globe produced different cultural values, ecological factors differed throughout the US historically and today, producing our regional and state-level dimensions of culture and political patterns.

Joshua Hartshorne believes that the binding versus individualizing values theory is an explanation for conservatives to blame victims.

It seems necessary for someone to advocate for keeping things the way they are in order to maintain their psychological well-being, since the haves and the have nots are getting what they deserve. I don’t see how you could advocate for such a position while simultaneously viewing yourself as moral (and almost everyone believes that they themselves are moral) without also believing in the just world. If you believe the world is not just, and that you are morally upright, then you are likely to feel obligated to change things.

Aare said the surveys found that conservatives were happier than liberals. She said that some research suggested that the experience of inequality made it harder for liberals to rationalize it as a positive thing.

It’s a combination of factors. Conservatives are likelier to be married, patriotic, and religious, all of which make people happier. They may be less aggrieved by the status quo, whereas liberals take on society’s problems as part of their own personal burdens. Liberals put politics more close to their identity and desire for meaning and purpose, which is a recipe for frustration.

Some features of the woke faction of liberalism may make people unhappier: as Jon Haidt and Greg Lukianoff have suggested, wokeism is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy in reverse, urging upon people maladaptive mental habits such as catastrophizing, feeling like a victim of forces beyond one’s control, prioritizing emotions of hurt and anger over rational analysis, and dividing the world into allies and villains.