Chase
Pulley
12
October 2012
Blog 5 Political Identity
Is there a distinct LDS political
identity here in the United States? If so what causes this LDS political identity
and what is it? A political identity is, “the ways that individuals categorize
themselves and others, and how they understand the power relationships of
domination and oppression that exist between groups.” (Samuels David, 149) According
to the Gallup Politics, 59% of LDS members identified themselves as
conservative, 31% as moderate, and 8% as liberal. (Frank Newport) From that
information we can see that there is a distinct political identity to the LDS
faith.
So what helped developed the LDS
political identity? One of the reasons that should be brought up is the intense
persecution the LDS church faced in the early day of its founding. Another
factor to look at is the close knit families in the LDS religion and the focus
on taking care of one another. A third and final factor I will bring up is the
desire of most members to provide for themselves and not be hindered by the
government taking too much power
Even though the LDS church itself does not support one
party more than another; many of its members have more conservatism beliefs
that liberal. So what causes this more conservative leaning? Is it more primordialism
or more constructivism? Primordialists believe that political identities are
something that people are born with or something that is taught at a very young
age. Whereas people who believe in constructivism believe that a person’s
political identity is something that can change and evolves over time rather
than one set identity. The best answer that I can see is a mixture of both of
them; no one approach fully covers all situations.
The
Primordialist approach could best explain the aspect of LDS children in primary
class. As young kids they learn basic beliefs that can be seen
as a more conservative leaning; such as the song “I am a Child of God” and the
belief that everybody is a child of God. This leads to a more conservative
approach when circumstances arise concerning the more liberal views of
abortion. The idea that people are born with this political identity is one
that I find to be more absurd and would not agree with. Though the idea that as
young children they learn and develop a political identity from that I would
agree with.
Though
constructivism can be seen when a person converts over to the LDS church and
gradually shifts their political identity to be more in line with the LDS
political identity. It must be addressed that this shift does not always happen
when a person joins the LDS faith. Another way that constructivism has been
present in the LDS religion is the fact that in the early days of the church
most church members were democrat. This can be seen from the following quote, “For most of its early decades, the GOP was staunchly
against Mormons” (George E. Condon Jr.) This shows that a shift in a
religious group can occur in accordance to the constructivism argument. The
people at the time of the shift weren’t stuck having a rigid un-malleable
Political identity, it could change.
The
LDS religion does have a political identity and a combination of the
Primordialism and Constructivism viewpoints are the most encompassing. Though I
feel like the Constructivism viewpoint has better points in which it explains
the political identity of the LDS church. But some of the points as shown above
from the Primordialist viewpoint help us understand the political identity of
the LDS church.
Works Cited
"Mormons Most Conservative Major Religious Group in
U.S." Mormons Most Conservative Major Religious Group in U.S. N.p.,
n.d. Web. 10 Oct. 2012.
<http://www.gallup.com/poll/125021/Mormons-Conservative-Major-Religious-Group.aspx>.
"Republicans Weren't Always So Accepting of
Mormons." NationalJournal.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Oct. 2012.
<http://www.nationaljournal.com/2012-election/republicans-weren-t-always-so-accepting-of-mormons-20120827>.
Samuels, David. Comparative Politics. New York:
Pearson Education, 2013. Print.
Interesting, right? Also, when you consider how many more Mormons are democrats or libertarians today, you get even more of a sense of how much the political identity has changed.
ReplyDeleteI like the approach that was taken with the political identity being perhaps a cause of early persecution. It helps show that even though the church may not support one political party over another, the members are so close knit that when a LDS presidential candidate runs for the office there is an immediate connection.
ReplyDelete