Those of us who have grown up in Utah, or any area with a
high population of LDS church members, for that matter, would agree that
members of the LDS church share a distinct political identity. As exemplified by the bumper sticker that
says, “I’m Voting for Obama and I’m a Mormon,” Mormon voters who are not in
favor of Mitt Romney seem hard to come by. Based on the theories of primordialism and
constructivism, however, does such a political identity really exist?
According to primordialism, one major element of a political
identity is kinship bonds, the idea that we have social connections formed by
blood, marriage, and relations.[1] Primordialists believe that we are born into these
kinship bonds and they shape our political identity and group loyalties. The presence of kinship bonds in the LDS
identity is extremely apparent. As
members of the LDS church, we believe that we are all sons and daughters of our
Heavenly Father, making us spirit brothers and sisters. We have a sense of “family” for those around
us, a belief that we reinforce every Sunday when we refer to each other as
“brother” and “sister.”
This idea of kinship bonds may be the reason why a very high
percentage of Mormons tend to support Presidential candidate Mitt Romney. In a survey conducted by BYU professor Quin
Monson, 42% of Mormon Democrats in Utah were said to favor Romney, as opposed
to only 23% of all Utah Democrats.[2] This shows that the political identity of
being LDS may have stronger kinship bonds than those felt by those in the
Democratic party, causing the LDS identity to trump the Democratic identity.
The constructivist theory of political identity emphasizes
the social context that politicizes an identity and stresses the fact that our
identities are based on choice.1
Constructivists would say that an identity is politicized when society
creates an issue or controversy out of a value or belief that is a part of the
identity. We can see this clearly with
regards to the LDS identity in the United States. Since its founding, the Church has received
much political attention for some of its doctrine, including polygamy,
abortion, and most recently gay marriage. With each of these controversies, LDS identity
has become politicized as LDS beliefs and values have been threatened or put
under question. When the Church makes an
official statement on a controversial issue, it seems that the voting
preferences of its members will mirror the Church’s doctrine.
A great example of this is the current issue of gay
marriage. According to a study published
by Kelly Patterson, a BYU political science professor, opposition to gay
marriage among Utah voters has dropped from 54% to 29% since 2004.[3] Much of this decline in opposition comes from
the Democratic voters, with 72% of them now favoring gay marriage. However, when looking at the data of just LDS
voters, the shifts are minor and the preference is still in opposition to gay
marriage.
As we can see, both the theory of primordialism and the
theory of constructivism offer insights into the existence of an LDS political
identity. Especially with regards to
Utah, this political identity seems to supersede other identities related to
political party affiliation.
Interesting point about the kinship bond. I hadn't really thought about it in that sense, but there are definitely a lot of ways being a member of the church makes primordialism make sense. Not only spiritually being brothers and sisters that brings a strong connection in the church, but the emphasis on family and unity definitely ties members together even politically.
ReplyDeleteI think you have a good point in defining the political identity based on politicized questions that the church tries to answer. That was very astute. I think, though, that in a scholarly setting, it's not quite appropriate to appeal to your readers' knowledge of the church's workings as in "As members of the LDS church, we believe that we are all sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father, making us spirit brothers and sisters. We have a sense of “family” for those around us, a belief that we reinforce every Sunday when we refer to each other as “brother” and “sister.”"
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