Moral Intuitions and the U.S. Political Compass
Mapping the Values from Jonathan Haidt’s Research
It may be tempting to see your opposition according to the examples of their worst-behaved people and your own group according to the examples of their best-behaved people. This would be the path to continued political gridlock, if not civil war. Haidt’s (2012) research helps us choose a different path by recognizing that other parties can have a moral stance that is different, and still valid.
Haidt uses the left/right polarity, not the political compass, but the values of each of the four largest U.S. political parties are present in his research. I’ve mapped them as follows, with my notes in brackets:
Haidt (2012) writes that while all factions care about each of these values and recognize that they constitute a moral stance, each puts particular emphasis on the importance of certain ones. They differ in which they consider the most sacred values. Haidt discusses only liberal and conservative values as a single spectrum, but here they are further divided according to 4A’s quadrants. The apparent imbalance of text is because Haidt found liberals focused on fairness and inclusion somewhat single-mindedly, while conservatives had a more diverse focus of values.
It’s important to acknowledge others’ right to see things differently and still be moral people. Haidt (2012) wrote in The Righteous Mind about his personal experience of shifting his perspective to consider different moral codes than the one he was most accustomed to:
It felt good to be released from partisan anger. And once I was no longer angry, I was no longer committed to reaching the conclusion that righteous anger demands…we are right; they are wrong. I was able to explore new matrices, each one supported by its own intellectual traditions. It felt like a kind of awakening. (p. 109)
Thanks for reading. Here’s a related post.
Repeat of Quadrants Content
The following values are applicable to the pro-establishment on both sides:
“Loyalty, authority” as primary values (p. 307); “preserve the institutions and traditions that sustain a moral community” (p. 306)
Auth-Left Quadrant
Preservation of institutions is focused on government-funded organizations such as public schools, libraries, universities, Peace Corps, NGOs for human rights and humanitarian aid
Secondarily “fairness (no cheating)” (p. 297)
Auth-Right Quadrant
Preservation of institutions is focused on established churches, the military, and long-standing service clubs such as the Boy Scouts, Lions, Rotary Club.
Sanctity is a primary value of conservatives (p. 307), especially for the “moral majority.”
Lib-Right Quadrant
A secondary value on “the right” is “fairness (no cheating, play by the rules)” (p. 302).
Lib-left (Green) Quadrant
Care for victims of oppression (p. 297)
References
Haidt, J. (2012). The righteous mind: Why good people are divided by politics and religion. Pantheon Books.