Summary Of George Lakoff's Moral Politics

In Moral Politics, George Lakoff, a worldclass cognitive linguist from the University of California-Berkeley, analyzes liberal and conservative ideology in terms of metaphor. Lakoff’s question that he is trying to answer is what divides conservatives and liberals when they are talking about politics, and how does this division relate back to metaphors we use to explain life. Lakoff belives politics is all about morality, and American morality is grounded in the metaphor of the family. Conservatives belive in a Strict Father morality and liberals a Nurturant Parent morality. These family models directly relate to the metaphors that people use to explain and understand politics and shape their own opinions. Lakoff insists that if both models are not understood than it is impossible to understand the various political positions that people take. His argument stems from
the metaphor the Nation-as-Family. Lakoff says we all have interalized this metaphor. We send our “Sons and Daughters” to war. We have the “Founding Fathers” and the “Daughters of the American Revolution.” In the Nation-as-Family metaphor the nation is seen as a family, the government is seen as a parent, and the citizens are seen as children. This metaphor turns family based morality into political morality, linking family values and political policies. As Lakoff plainly states, “it is the only explanation there is at present for why conservatives and liberals have the policies they have and use the modes of reasoning and the language that they use.” In Strict Father morality the father rules demands to be obeyed.
The father’s authority derives from the Moral Order, a God-given hierarchy in which man dominates nature and exploits it for his own use, men dominate women and parents dominate children. This authority creates responsibility. Responsibility to provide for, to protect against external evils, and to teach the self-discipline that alone will create the moral strength for combating internal evils and the self-reliance needed for success in life. The Nurturant Parent morality of the liberals is based on moral nurturance. This includes protection as a prerequisite but is primarily based on empathy. Nurturant Parent morality emphasizes social ties, community, interdependence, self-development, happiness, fairness. Nurturant Parent moral authority stems from respect earned through nurturing and setting a good example. Politically, these beliefs translate into policies that respect the voices of all Americans, and that seek to “level the playing field” so every American has a genuine opportunity to pursue his own version of the American
Dream.
Last week’s lecture was on characteristics that are particular to conservatives and liberals, although it was more of “these are the characteristics” rather than “these are the characteristics and here is how they are used in politics.” This week’s reading was also about particular characteristics of liberals and conservatives, the model of family that each uses and how if affects their political thought. This book advances one possible view into how to relate ideas between conservatives and liberals because if you understand where someone is reasoning from, you can more accurately fit your words into their “frames” and so work with them, rather than have them simply throw out your ideas because they do not fit their worldview.