An introduction to “nudge science”

2018 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 114-119
Author(s):  
Ronald F. White
Keyword(s):  
Behavioral Economics ◽  
Life Sciences ◽  
The Political ◽  
Choice Architecture ◽  
Prolific Author ◽  
Vast Number ◽  
Political Left ◽  
Left And Right ◽  
Liberty Principle ◽  
Paternalistic Intervention

Let’s begin by addressing the most obvious question: given the vast number of books published on political science every year, why would the Association for Politics and the Life Sciences (APLS) and its journal Politics and the Life Sciences expend time, energy, and resources publishing a multiple-author analysis of a series of books that contain little (if anything) about the life sciences, Darwin, or evolution? The answer is that Cass R. Sunstein’s recent research on “nudge science” provides an excellent opportunity for APLS to expand its commitment to interdisciplinarity, especially its long-standing interest in behavioral economics. Sunstein, a prolific author, has written many books and scholarly articles defending “libertarian paternalism.” Libertarian critics have long argued that the conjunction of “libertarian” and “paternalism” is oxymoronic and that the “liberty principle” or the “principle of autonomy” excludes paternalistic intervention on behalf of rational, competent adults. Over the years, with varying degrees of success, Sunstein has addressed many, if not most, lines of criticism emanating from the political left and right. Like many scholars, his views have evolved over time based on that criticism. This introductory essay will focus on some of the more enduring elements of the conceptual framework and issues that underlie nudge science in the larger context of behavioral economics, including choice architecture, political bans and mandates, political nudges, ethics, and paternalistic intervention.

Stepping Outside the Echo Chamber: Is Intellectual Humility Associated with Less Political Myside Bias?

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shauna Marie Bowes ◽  
Thomas H Costello ◽  
Caroline Lee ◽  
Stacey McElroy-Heltzel ◽  
Don E. Davis ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Salient Feature ◽  
Political Polarization ◽  
The Political ◽  
Intellectual Humility ◽  
Growing Body ◽  
Political Left ◽  
Echo Chamber ◽  
Left And Right ◽  
Myside Bias ◽  
Psychological Features

In recent years, an upsurge of polarization has been a salient feature of political discourse in America. A small but growing body of research has examined the potential relevance of intellectual humility (IH) to political polarization. In the present investigation, we extend this work to political myside bias, testing the hypothesis that IH is associated with less bias in two community samples (N1 = 498; N2 = 477). In line with our expectations, measures of IH were negatively correlated with political myside bias across paradigms, political topics, and samples. These relations were robust to controlling for humility. We also examined ideological asymmetries in the relations between IH and political myside bias, finding that IH-bias relations were statistically equivalent in members of the political left and right. Notwithstanding important limitations and caveats, these data establish IH as one of a small handful psychological features known to predict less political myside bias.

Extreme Political Beliefs Predict Dogmatic Intolerance

2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 292-300 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan-Willem van Prooijen ◽  
André P. M. Krouwel
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Free Speech ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Political ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Political Beliefs ◽  
Political Left ◽  
Left And Right ◽  
Political Right

Dogmatic intolerance—defined as a tendency to reject, and consider as inferior, any ideological belief that differs from one’s own—is often assumed to be more prominent at the political right than at the political left. In the present study, we make two novel contributions to this perspective. First, we show that dogmatic intolerance is stronger among left- and right-wing extremists than moderates in both the European Union (Study 1) as well as the United States (Study 2). Second, in Study 3, participants were randomly assigned to describe a strong or a weak political belief that they hold. Results revealed that compared to weak beliefs, strong beliefs elicited stronger dogmatic intolerance, which in turn was associated with willingness to protest, denial of free speech, and support for antisocial behavior. We conclude that independent of content, extreme political beliefs predict dogmatic intolerance.

scholarly journals The Value of Work and the Future of the Left

2017 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. 137
Author(s):  
Campbell Jones
Keyword(s):  
The Political ◽  
Future Of Work ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Future ◽  
Political Left ◽  
Left And Right ◽  
The Right

This paper arises from a request to report to the Future of Work Commission on the question of the value of work in the past, present, and future politics of the Left. This task is complicated, however, by the complexity of the meaning of the terms Left and Right. It is only when we are clear about the meanings of Left and Right that we can be clear about the very different kinds of politics that will result from taking a Left position on work. This paper seeks to clarify what a Left politics of work might look like today. This requires in the first place an analysis of the respective value of work to the political Left and Right, to which end I argue that what distinguishes the Left and the Right regarding the value of work is not simply the quantity of value or dignity that is attributed to work. Rather, Left and Right depart in a fundamental ontological confrontation regarding the nature of what work is and the existence of the bodies from which work issues. This analysis therefore raises deeper questions regarding the very distinction between the Left and the Right.  

Two Critical Spectators: José Ortega y Gasset and Raymond Aron

2015 ◽  
Vol 77 (4) ◽  
pp. 575-602 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brendon Westler ◽  
Aurelian Craiutu
Keyword(s):  
The Political ◽  
Jose Ortega Y Gasset ◽  
Political Criticism ◽  
Political Left ◽  
Left And Right ◽  
Similarities And Differences ◽  
Raymond Aron ◽  
Civilization And Barbarism

AbstractThis essay examines the role of “critical spectatorship” in the writings of two distinguished European intellectuals, José Ortega y Gasset (1883–1955) and Raymond Aron (1905–1983). We begin the paper by commenting on the struggle between civilization and barbarism, a fundamental topic in their works. We then examine the rhetoric of going beyond the political left and right, which both Ortega and Aron used in their writings. Next, we turn to the concept of “critical spectatorship” that is central to their thought and comment on the similarities and differences between their forms of social and political criticism. We conclude by drawing a few conclusions on the relevance of Ortega's and Aron's ideas for us today.

The Marketplace of Racist Ideas

2020 ◽  
pp. 174387212095983
Author(s):  
Nancy Leong ◽  
Kevin M. Whitfield
Keyword(s):  
Academic Freedom ◽  
Students Of Color ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Left ◽  
Left And Right

This commentary examines academic freedom in the context of racist campus speech. Drawing on both historical and contemporary events, it argues that the protection of racist campus speech – and the emphasis from some elements of the political left and right on the importance of of protecting such speech – in fact suppresses ideas and speech from faculty and students of color. In particular, protecting racist campus speech silences anti-racist ideas and speech. This suppression results in substantial harms to academic freedom for groups and ideas that badly need it: faculty and students of color, who are often underrepresented and marginalized on campus, and anti-racist speech, which is frequently treated as unimportant or unintellectual.

The Patriotism of Gambetta: From Jacobinism to Combinazione

1962 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 365-391
Author(s):  
H. Tint
Keyword(s):  
Third Republic ◽  
The Political ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Working Classes ◽  
Most Significant Change ◽  
Political Left ◽  
Left And Right ◽  
Political Advantage ◽  
The Difference ◽  
The Right

The patriotism of the French underwent a far-reaching reorientation between 1871 and 1940. Understood as the readiness to do one's best for one's country, if necessary by fighting for it, the most significant change that affected French patriotic feeling during this period is its shift from the political left to the right. Popular response to the republican call to arms after the fall of the Empire in 1870 was to know no future parallel in its magnitude and enthusiasm. Excluded from positions of political prominence, the working classes and their leaders soon came to think that if they had a patrie, it was not the Third Republic. On the other hand, the right after a century of forgetfulness, rediscovered the old patriotic slogans as the left discarded them. And it used them with considerable skill to its political advantage. But the difference between left- and right-wing patriotism is that defeat in 1870 brought to power a man determined to fight against heavy odds, Gambetta; while defeat in 1940 brought to power a man determined to capitulate before the enemy, Pétain. And yet it has to be recognized that the origins of this transformation are to be found in the policies of the same Gambetta who, no doubt deservedly, is commonly hailed as the Jacobin hero of French resistance in 1870–1.

scholarly journals Towards Social Change: Social Transformation in a Time of Social Disruption

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 219-242
Author(s):  
João Romeiro Hermeto
Keyword(s):  
Social Change ◽  
Social Transformation ◽  
The Political ◽  
Social Disruption ◽  
New Paradigm ◽  
The Us ◽  
Political Left ◽  
Left And Right

This paper discusses the deepening of the current capitalist crisis in practical/theoretical groundings; its overcoming is not simply a theoretical but a concrete question. While the US-capitalism becomes more aggressive, its theoretical apprehension has been historically suppressed and substituted by more unifying discourses. A new paradigm arises: political left and right have merged. The political programs of the last decades were caught off guarded and cannot offer concrete, satisfying answers to real, social demands. However, the reorganisation of the Left from within could open the possibility for real social transformation.

scholarly journals Absolute Certainty and Political Ideology: A Systematic Test of Curvilinearity

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas H Costello
Keyword(s):  
Political Ideology ◽  
The Other ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Beliefs ◽  
Political Reality ◽  
Absolute Certainty ◽  
Political Left ◽  
Left And Right ◽  
The One

The present investigation examined curvilinear relations between left-right political ideology, on the one hand, and absolute certainty and dogmatism, on the other, across six community samples (N = 2889). Ideological extremists were more likely than others to be absolutely certain: about 1 in 3 extremists reported being absolutely (i.e., 100%) certain of the correctness of their political beliefs, whereas about 1 in 15 non-extremists reported being absolutely certain. Although absolute political certainty was relatively symmetrical across the political left and right, conservatives tended to report greater domain-general dogmatism than liberals. Extremism effects for domain-general dogmatism were also present, however, such that Socialists and extreme conservatives demonstrated similar levels of dogmatism. Taken together, these findings underscore the complexity of relations between absolute certainty, dogmatism, and ideology, ultimately challenging the sufficiency of contemporary psychological accounts of ideological a/symmetries to describe our complex political reality.

scholarly journals The political unconscious of practice theory: Populism and democracy

Thesis Eleven ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 158 (1) ◽  
pp. 96-116
Author(s):  
Michael Strand
Keyword(s):  
Practice Theory ◽  
The Political ◽  
Power Politics ◽  
Political Unconscious ◽  
Genetic History ◽  
Family Resemblances ◽  
History Of ◽  
Political Left ◽  
Left And Right ◽  
Practical Question

This article attempts a self-clarification of practice theory by providing a genetic history of ‘practice’ as a figure in social thought. This locates two different versions of practice theory in Marx’s ‘practical question’ and Hobbes’ ‘Kingdom of Darkness’, respectively, and shows how both historically comprise a practical critique of testing reason. This article examines how the practical critique performs a dialectic of politicization and depoliticization that finds family resemblances and paradoxical alignments between the political left and right. The article evaluates the strength of the practical critique and asks whether it results in a power politics with both left and right versions.

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