Blog 5

Danielle Orrock

Blog 5

With the buzz of a republican LDS presidential candidate, it begs the question; do the LDS people have a political identity? Although, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (2012) does not “endorse, promote, or oppose political parties, candidates, or platforms,” (“Mormons are Politically Diverse”) there is a distinctive political identity that tends to be more conservative among the members of the church, that can be explained with both the primordial and constructive theory of politicizing identities.

           

In order to understand the aspects and causes of the LDS political identity, one has to understand what a political identity is. According to Professor Hawkins a political identity is “any identity that significantly shapes our political decision, especially when it is the most important identity to do so” (2012).  Do the LDS views and standards have an affect on the members’ choice of political identity?

 Many standards and views in the church, such as being against abortion or homosexuality, are more conservative and tend to fall into the republican’s platform. This crossover of values can be seen in the percentage of Mormons who are republican cited by Robert Gehrke in the Salt Lake Tribunes’ article “Survey: Mormons embrace GOP, shun Democrats”. The article states that 59% of Mormons are republican, while 27% are independent, and 14% are democratic (2011). While the majority of Mormons are republican, the variety can be explained using the two different politicizing identities.

The first theory introduced in the textbook Politics by David J. Samules is Primodialism. Samuels notes that primordialism “emphasizes kinship bonds—literal or metaphorical—as the building block or identity… [and] assumes we’re born with our identities…and can’t be changed” (2012, p. 160). In the Church often times a ward is called a ward family, noting the metaphorical kinship that exists between the members. The members of the Later Day saints tend to bond together in values and political parties because of the familial bonds between them. However, this doesn’t explain the fact that 41% of the Mormon population doesn’t identify with the Republican Party.

The difference in political parties suggests that the Mormon political identity was politicized through the constructivism theory. Samules states that constructivism, “assumes our identities are malleable” (2012, p. 160).  With this idea that identities can be changed or shaped could account for the smaller percentage of Latter Day Saints who are not republican.

The survey done by the Salt Lake Tribune shows that a greater percentage of Mormons are republican, suggesting a political identity among the members of its religion. This is caused by major values and standards of the Church overlapping with the conservative values of the Republican Party. This majority of the members identifying with the republican party could be explained by the primordialism theory of close kinship shaping and reinforcing our political identities. The minority of members being a democrat or independent can be explained with the constructivism theory of political identities being changeable. Overall a distinct political identity can be seen among the members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

Works Cited

Gehrke, R. (2011, December 14) Survey: Mormons embrace GOP, shun democrats. Salt Lake Tribune. Retrieved from http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/home2/53110048-183/mormons-utah-lds-party.html.csp

Professor Hawkins. 2012, October 10. Political Identity

Samuels, D. (2012). Comparative politics. University of Minnesota, Michigan: Pearson.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. (2012). Mormons are politically diverse. Retrieved from http://www.mormontopics.org/eng/politics