Egregores and the Pew Political Types

...as categorized by the political compass

Egregore is an occult concept representing a certain non-physical entity that arises from the collective thoughts of a distinct group of people….More contemporarily, the concept has referred to a psychic manifestation, or thoughtform, occurring when any group shares a common motivation—being made up of, and influencing, the thoughts of the group. (Egregore, n.d., para. 1-2)

Schmachtenberger, a biomedical engineer and futurist, explained his perspective that in “the United States right now…think of something that you could call wokeism and something that you could call…MAGA-ism…as kind of true competing egregores that both have pretty huge percentages of the population engaging in some way” (Rebel Wisdom, 2022b, 34:40). The egregores in the image below indicate what each of the Pew types cares about, and their specific worldview. The descriptions indicate concerns that have become the subject of party talking points or cultural memes. This naming seems a more intuitive way to make sense of the current voting blocs, more so than party labels.

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Repeat of the Quadrants

This section repeats the writing in the quadrants, for any who have difficulty reading in that format. As an image it won’t be verbally read by assistive technology. What’s the benefit of the quadrant format anyway? It’s a heuristic that can stick in the visual memory.

Democrats’ Egregores

Inevitable Human Progress

Democratic mainstays don’t tend to believe in conspiracies, rapture, or the possibility of global economic collapse, but they do have a tendency—regardless of a steady stream of daily shockingly bad news—to think that thru the ups and downs, the trajectory of human progress overall remains upward.

Engineering World Peace

Establishment liberals either celebrate or participate in TEDtalks or Davos conference, planning for a continued spread of peace and abundance assisted by techno-optimists, a humanist rationalist triumph over the human condition thru benign policy goals of the IMF & United Nations.

Fighting Plutocracy

The 1% plutocrats use idea of meritocracy to justify unbridled global corporate exploitive competition & control of the war machine.

Republicans’ Egregores

The 1%

Although some of the new wealth is generated by the tech startups of the establishment liberals or the ambivalent right, committed conservatives aren’t vying for more likes. They use tax loopholes and give to trusts that can further their political interests or funnel back into their own stash.

Military Industrial Complex (MIC)

The war machine gets bigger and less accountable, now with mass surveillance, “pre-emptive attacks,” and drone strikes on targets whose culpability is uncertain. Both Pew’s committed conservatives and “faith and flag conservatives” are patriotic.

The Rapture

Pew’s “faith and flag conservatives” are part of the moral majority. Many are evangelicals awaiting the second coming of Christ.

Libertarians’ Egregores

New World Order

Pew’s “populist right” might also be “patriots disenfranchised” because freedom is under threat from globalization as part of plans for world domination by a powerful elite. This view leads to embracing MAGA nationalism.

The singularity

Pew’s “ambivalent right” some name the dissident right. Ayn Rand fans, rationalists, NTs on the MBTI, gamers. Some embrace novelty and believe in the capacity of science & tech to transcend the human condition.

Greens’ Egregores

Wokeism

Pew’s “progressive left” are the social justice warriors fighting for reparations for the economically disadvantaged BIPOC and for queer & transgender rights and social acceptance. NGO elites promote SDGs.

The great turning (AKA Plan B)

Pew’s “outsider left” foresees a time when a critical mass will reverse humanity’s course toward destruction and bring about The More Beautiful World Our Hearts Know is Possible (a Charles  Eisenstein book title).

References

Egregore. (n.d.). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egregore

Pew Research Center. (2021). Beyond red vs. blue: The political typology. https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2021/11/PP_2021.11.09_political-typology_REPORT.pdf

Rebel Wisdom. (2022a). In search of the third attractor, Daniel Schmachtenberger (part 2) [Video]. YouTube.