John King (author of 'Tribal Leadership') made me aware of Jonathan Haidt's new book: 'The Righteous Mind'.
I am not a great student of American politics and have very few positive words for their two-party political system, but the six polarities Haidt mentions in his book caught my attention. These polarities can easily be taken out of the American political context and viewed within a multicultural context anywhere in the world.
I think they are helpful polarities that can shed light on culturally motivated values.
The book summary on Amazon says:
According to Haidt's and others' research, there are at least six mental 'modules' that go into moral and poltical decisions, and it is difficult to argue that any one (or two or three) are more important than others. And they are:
care/harm,
fairness/cheating,
loyalty/betrayal,
authority/subversion,
sanctity/degradation and
liberty/oppression.
Some people (often of the political left) care most about care/harm and fairness/cheating in their emphasis on egalitarian politics that aim to provide care for those in need and create fair rules in the sense that everyone, relatively speaking, starts on an 'even playing field.' Others (usually conservatives) have tempermants that focus on authority/suversion and loyalty/betrayal, focusing on maintaining or promoting institutions that foster some level of deference to authority (in legitimate hierarchies), and loyalty (whether to country, God, family, etc).
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