And I’m tempted to say ignorance is bliss. But I won’t. Or maybe I just did.
Individuals with conservative ideologies are happier than liberal-leaners, and new research pinpoints the reason: Conservatives rationalize social and economic inequalities.
Regardless of marital status, income or church attendance, right-wing individuals reported greater life satisfaction and well-being than left-wingers, the new study found. Conservatives also scored highest on measures of rationalization, which gauge a person’s tendency to justify, or explain away, inequalities.
The rationalization measure included statements such as: “It is not really that big a problem if some people have more of a chance in life than others,” and “This country would be better off if we worried less about how equal people are.”
To justify economic inequalities, a person could support the idea of meritocracy, in which people supposedly move up their economic status in society based on hard work and good performance. In that way, one’s social class attainment, whether upper, middle or lower, would be perceived as totally fair and justified.
If your beliefs don’t justify gaps in status, you could be left frustrated and disheartened, according to the researchers, Jaime Napier and John Jost of New York University.
Eh. Maybe.
Liberals obviously see more inherent injustice in society than many conservatives, and demand something be done about it - that government do something. And maybe sometimes they see phantoms, or think government can solve problems that government is fundamentally incapable of solving. I don’t see where the “war on poverty,” you know, actually eliminated poverty.
But you could spin this another way: If there is a belief in meritocracy, doesn’t it imply a corresponding callousness to those who can’t make the cut?
which is how I reply to phone calls when they ask what state I'm in.
