scholarly journals What Makes Diets Political? Moral Foundations and the Left-Wing-Vegan Connection

2021 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 18-52
Author(s):  
Thomas Grünhage ◽  
Martin Reuter
Keyword(s):  
Explanatory Power ◽  
Meat Consumption ◽  
Political Orientation ◽  
Political Polarization ◽  
The Political ◽  
Environmental Damage ◽  
Moral Foundations ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Left Wing ◽  
Meat Eating

AbstractThough meat-consumption is known to be a key factor in environmental damage, veganism and vegetarianism are still perceived to be left-wing-phenomena, ironically not penetrating to those who hold ideologies of conservation. Logical contradictions and historical counter-examples cast doubt on a substantive connection between political orientation and meat-eating. Instead, common psychological factors may predispose people toward both: left vs. right-wing political orientation and self-restrictive vs. omnivore eating preferences. Moral foundations have been shown to explain why even seemingly contradictory issue stances are brought forward in the context of the same ideological or political orientation. Here, we expand on these findings by showing the moral foundations to connect political orientation and vegan and vegetarian eating preferences as well as specific strategies of meat-eating justification in a large German sample. Specifically, the binding foundations authority and purity as well as avoidance tendencies are shown to differentially interact with meat-eating across the political spectrum with stronger effects for left-wing adherents and centrists than for the right-wing. Mediation analyses reveal that substantive parts of the association between political orientation and self-restriction in eating are attributable to differences in the moral makeup of left- and right-wing adherents. Connecting our results to prior work on the explanatory power of moral foundations for the political polarization of environmentalism, we discuss how our results may inform inter-ideologically appealing communications of reducing meat consumption, which is a worthwhile and necessary goal for mitigating climate change.

scholarly journals Quarenteners vs. Cloroquiners: a framework to analyze the effect of political polarization on social distance stances

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Régis Ebeling ◽  
Carlos Córdova Sáenz ◽  
Jeferson Campos Nobre ◽  
Karin Becker
Keyword(s):  
Social Distance ◽  
Topic Modeling ◽  
Political Engagement ◽  
Political Orientation ◽  
Psychological Aspects ◽  
Political Polarization ◽  
The Political ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Left Wing

The worldwide COVID-19 pandemic has struck people’s lives overnight. With an alarming contagious rate and no effective treatments or vaccines, it has evoked all sorts of reactions. In this paper, we propose a framework to analyze how political polarization affects groups’ behavior with opposed stances, using the Brazilian COVID polarized scenario as a case study. Two Twitter groups represent the pro/against social isolation stances referred to as Chloroquiners and Quarenteners. The framework encompasses: a) techniques to automatically infer from users political orientation, b) topic modeling to discover the homogeneity of concerns expressed by each group; c) network analysis and community detection to characterize their behavior as a social network group and d) analysis of linguistic characteristics to identify psychological aspects. Our main findings confirm that Cloroquiners are right-wing partisans, whereas Quarenteners are more related to the left-wing. The political polarization of Chloroquiners and Quarenteners influence the arguments of economy and life, and support/opposition to the president. As a group, the network of Chloroquiners is more closed and connected, and Quarenteners have a more diverse political engagement. In terms of psychological aspects, polarized groups come together on cognitive issues and negative emotions.

Political Orientations and Morality Judgments in the Turkish Context: Considering the Roles of the Needs for Cognition and Recognition

2020 ◽  
pp. 003329411989990
Author(s):  
Burcu Tekeş ◽  
E. Olcay Imamoğlu ◽  
Fatih Özdemir ◽  
Bengi Öner-Özkan
Keyword(s):  
Need For Cognition ◽  
Political Orientation ◽  
Moral Foundations ◽  
Moral Foundations Theory ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Left Wing ◽  
Group Loyalty ◽  
Political Orientations ◽  
Collectivistic Culture

The aims of this study were to test: (a) the association of political orientations with morality orientations, specified by moral foundations theory, on a sample of young adults from Turkey, representing a collectivistic culture; and (b) the statistically mediating roles of needs for cognition and recognition in the links between political orientation and morality endorsements. According to the results (a) right-wing orientation and need for recognition were associated with all the three binding foundations (i.e., in-group/loyalty, authority/respect, and purity/sanctity); (b) right-wing orientation was associated with binding foundations also indirectly via the role of need for recognition; (c) regarding individualizing foundations, left-wing orientation and need for cognition were associated with fairness/reciprocity, whereas only gender was associated with harm/care; and (d) left-wing orientation was associated with fairness dimension also indirectly via the role of need for cognition. The cultural relevance of moral foundations theory as well as the roles of needs for cognition and recognition are discussed.

scholarly journals Deeper than you think: partisan-dependent brain response

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Noa Katabi ◽  
Hadas Simon ◽  
Sharon Yakim ◽  
Inbal Ravreby ◽  
Yaara Yeshurun
Keyword(s):  
Magnetic Resonance Image ◽  
Neural Mechanisms ◽  
Political Polarization ◽  
The Political ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Left Wing ◽  
Functional Magnetic Resonance ◽  
Brain Response ◽  
Left And Right ◽  
Auditory Cortices

Recent political polarization has highlighted the extent to which individuals with opposing views experience ongoing events in markedly different ways. In this study, we explored the neural mechanisms underpinning this phenomenon. We conducted functional magnetic resonance image (fMRI) scanning right- and left-wing participants watching political videos just before the 2019 elections in Israel. Behavioral results demonstrated significant differences between left- and right-wing participants in their interpretation of the videos' content. Neuroimaging results revealed partisanship-dependent differences in both high-order regions and early-motor and somato-sensory regions, although no such differences were found with regard to neutral content. Moreover, we found that most of the political content was more potent in synchronizing participants with right-wing views, and that this synchronization was observed already in early visual and auditory cortices. These results suggest that political polarization is not limited to higher-order processes as previously thought, but rather emerges already in motor and sensory regions.

scholarly journals Omission and compromise: The sacredness of moral foundations in political groups in Italy

2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 128-147 ◽  
Author(s):  
Silvia Di Battista ◽  
Monica Pivetti ◽  
Annukka Vainio ◽  
Chiara Berti
Keyword(s):  
Repeated Measures ◽  
Political Orientation ◽  
Moral Foundations ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Left Wing ◽  
Convenience Sample ◽  
Confirmatory Factor Analyses ◽  
Trade Off ◽  
Sacred Values ◽  
Political Groups

Sacred values are moral foundations that may make public and political debates among groups hard to resolve. A taboo trade-off framework offers the opportunity of measuring the inviolability and the “sacralization” of moral foundations. In this study, moral foundations in a taboo trade-off framework were assessed in a convenience sample of Italians (N = 224) using a new measure to assess sacred values, the Omission as a Compromise on Moral Foundations scale (OC-MF). The OC-MF measures the willingness of individuals to omit moral foundations in exchange for money. It was predicted that Italian center and left-wing participants would be less willing to compromise individualizing moral foundations as opposed to binding ones, and that center and right-wing participants would be less willing to compromise on binding moral foundations than left-wing participants. Confirmatory Factor Analyses demonstrated the two-factor structure of the OC-MF: individualizing and binding. As predicted, Repeated Measures Anova showed that political orientation was related with differential adoptions of moral foundations as sacred values, with center and left-wing participants refusing to compromise more on individualizing than on binding moral foundations. Moreover, left-wing participants were more willing to compromise on binding moral foundations than center and right-wing participants. The OC-MF shows the hypothesized differences between Italian political groups and offers a new understanding of moral reasoning. These findings provide opportunities for improving ideological debates concerning sacred values.

scholarly journals The effect of political polarization on social distance stances in the Brazilian COVID-19 scenario

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Régis Ebeling ◽  
Carlos Abel Córdova Sáenz ◽  
Jeferson Nobre ◽  
Karin Becker
Keyword(s):  
Topic Modeling ◽  
Political Engagement ◽  
Political Orientation ◽  
Psychological Aspects ◽  
Political Polarization ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Left Wing ◽  
Multiple Dimensions ◽  
Modeling Techniques

The COVID-19 pandemic changed the routine and concerns of people around the world since 2020. The alarming contagious rate and the lack of treatment or vaccine evoked different reactions to controlling and mitigating the virus's contagious. In this paper, we developed a case study on the Brazilian COVID scenario, investigating the influence of the political polarization in the pro/against stances of social isolation, represented in Twitter by two groups referred to as the Cloroquiners and Quarenteners. We analyzed these groups according to multiple dimensions: a) concerns expressed by each group and main arguments representing each stance; b) techniques to automatically infer from users political orientation, c) network analysis and community detection to characterize their behavior as a social network group and d) analysis of linguistic characteristics to identify psychological aspects. We propose combining two topic modeling techniques, LDA and BERTopics, to understand each stance's concerns in different granularity levels. Our main findings confirm that Cloroquiners are right-wing partisans, whereas Quarenteners are more related to the left-wing. Cloroquiners and Quarenteners' political polarization influences the arguments of economy and life and a stronger support/opposition to the president. As a group, the network of Cloroquiners is more closed and connected, and Quarenteners have a more diverse political engagement with a community of users polarized only with left-wing politicians and his supporters. In terms of psychological aspects, polarized groups come together on cognitive issues and negative emotions.

scholarly journals Design follows politics? The visualization of political orientation in newspaper page layout

2017 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 141-161 ◽  
Author(s):  
Johanna Schindler ◽  
Philipp Müller
Keyword(s):  
Graphic Design ◽  
Political Orientation ◽  
The Political ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Left Wing ◽  
Page Layout ◽  
Political Messages ◽  
Visual Patterns ◽  
National Quality ◽  
Visual Frame

This article explores how the political orientation of newspapers is reflected in their page layout. The authors compare the layouts of five German national quality newspapers exemplarily and exploratively in a combination of quantitative and qualitative analyses. Dimensions of comparison are typography, size, colouration, quantity and arrangement of elements. Results show systematic differences between the page layouts of left-wing and right-wing newspapers. These differences are reflected in the contrast of traditional and contemporary styles and also in the use of ideologically charged typography and colours. In addition, the size of headlines seems to be dependent on political extremity. Graphic design seems to work as an ideological symbol system with different layout styles quite consistently representing partisan positions. If media users could come to learn and recognize such visual patterns, layout could function as a visual frame for political messages.

scholarly journals Ideologies and Censorship in the Discourse of Two Opinion Columns: A Critical Discourse Analysis

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 61-74
Author(s):  
Jhon Alejandro Marín González
Keyword(s):  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Ethical Dilemma ◽  
Freedom Of Speech ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Political Polarization ◽  
The Political ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Left Wing ◽  
Political Ideologies

This article examines two opinion columns titled “Dilema Ético” (Ethical Dilemma) and “A Margarita” (To Margarita) from a Critical Discourse Analysis perspective. The relevance of the analysis of these columns is that they were written within a context of social crisis in Colombia where the political polarization has increased over the last years. The study intends to identify and analyze expressions used in the discourse of two columnists that represent opposite political ideologies and how this can enact constraints of freedom of speech. The analysis is conducted through Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA). The findings show that the columnist identified with right-wing ideologies imposed herself on the columnist aligned with left-wing ideologies, thus restrict her freedom of speech.

Political orientation and moral foundations

2019 ◽  
Vol 118 (11) ◽  
pp. 365-371
Author(s):  
J Dorasamy ◽  
Mr Jirushlan Dorasamy
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
North America ◽  
American Studies ◽  
Political Orientation ◽  
The Political ◽  
Moral Foundations ◽  
Open Approach ◽  
Online Questionnaire ◽  
Moral Foundation ◽  
The North

Studies, especially in the North America, have shown a relationship between political orientation and moralfoundation. This study investigated whether moral judgements differ from the political orientation of participantsin South Africa moral judgment and the extent to which moral foundations are influenced by politicalorientation.Further, the study investigated the possibility of similar patterns with the North AmericanConservative-Liberal spectrum and the moral foundation. There were 300participants, 78 males and 222 females,who completed an online questionnaire relating to moral foundation and political orientation. The results partiallysupported the hypothesis relating to Liberal and Conservative orientation in South Africa. Further, this studypartially predicted the Liberal-Conservative orientation with patterns in the moral foundation, whilst showingsimilar findings to the North American studies. A growing rate of a neutral/moderate society is evidenced in SouthAfrica and abroad, thereby showing the emergence of a more open approach to both a political and generalstance.”””

Ideological bases of attitudes towards meat abstention: Vegetarianism as a threat to the cultural and economic status quo

2021 ◽  
pp. 136843022110203
Author(s):  
Samantha K. Stanley
Keyword(s):  
Economic Status ◽  
Meat Consumption ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
The Political ◽  
Left Wing ◽  
Negative Attitudes ◽  
Political Right

Those on the political right engage in greater meat consumption and animal exploitation than their left-wing counterparts. Previous research suggests this is because they view vegetarianism as threatening the nation’s dietary customs and economy. Across two studies, I extend this concept of “vegetarianism threat” by showing that it separates into two distinct dimensions of concern: cultural (symbolic) threats and economic (realistic) threats. The resultant multidimensional scale allows a finer grained understanding of the roots of ideology-based threat responses to meat-free movements. Together, results implicate symbolic concerns as the key element of vegetarianism threat contributing to negative attitudes towards meat abstention and its proponents.

scholarly journals Ideological Consistency, Political Orientation, and Variability Across Moral Foundations

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tom Pyszczynski ◽  
Pelin Kesebir ◽  
Matt Motyl ◽  
Andrea Yetzer ◽  
Jacqueline M. Anson
Keyword(s):  
Political Orientation ◽  
Gun Control ◽  
The Political ◽  
Moral Foundations ◽  
Political Issues ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Political Spectrum ◽  
The Relationship

We conceptualized ideological consistency as the extent to which an individual’s attitudes toward diverse political issues are coherent among themselves from an ideological standpoint. Four studies compared the ideological consistency of self-identified liberals and conservatives. Across diverse samples, attitudes, and consistency measures, liberals were more ideologically consistent than conservatives. In other words, conservatives’ individual-level attitudes toward diverse political issues (e.g., abortion, gun control, welfare) were more dispersed across the political spectrum than were liberals’ attitudes. Study 4 demonstrated that variability across commitments to different moral foundations predicted ideological consistency and mediated the relationship between political orientation and ideological consistency.

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