Why women are liberal, & men conservative: it's sexual strategy
From "Virtue Signaling" by Geoffrey Miller:
People use political orientation as a proxy for other people’s character.
Usually, people read political orientations like this:
- Liberal: caring, and empathic. Good for child care and relationship-building
- Conservative: ambitious and self-interested. Godo at protecting and provisioning
Miller says that men use political conservativism as a (subconscious) tool to advertise their social and economical dominance, or their propensity to acquire social and economical dominance.
And women use political liberism to advertise their nurturing abilities.
The shift from liberal youth to conservative middle age, says Miller, is not so much about rationality, but as a better advertising tool for the increased social dominance and earnings power.
Miller makes a great point.
What I think can also be added here, in my opinion, is the short-term VS long-term mode of dating dynamics.
Liberal political philosophy tends to be more forgiving, or more embracing, of sexual expression. Many young guys hide their conservativism out of fear of harming their sexual strategy (my own speculation). And that’s why liberalism tends to be more popular among young folks: it’s a time in life for sexual experimentation.
People settle down later in life, and later in life, it makes more sense to be conservative (still from a sexual strategy point of view).
WHY WOMEN PREFER "OPEN BORDERS" AND MEN DISLIKE IMMIGRANTS
Finally, my own speculation.
Have you noticed it's often more women who are OK with refugees and open borders, why it's men who tend to be against open immigration policies?
In my opinion, it's because it's mostly men who usually travel and take the risk to move.
So men don't like open border policies because it means higher sexual competition for them. For the same reasons, they are more unforgiving towards immigrants.
And women are more liberal towards immigration because higher male competition means more dating power for them, and more mates to choose from.
This is very interesting, my understanding is that this is one of the subconscious/semi-concious reasons, evidently not the only one, and how much weight would it have on a particular individual stance would show high variance.
Quote from Stef on December 30, 2020, 10:08 pmThis is very interesting, my understanding is that this is one of the subconscious/semi-concious reasons, evidently not the only one, and how much weight would it have on a particular individual stance would show high variance.
Absolutely, it would be reductive, often wrong, and even personally unjust to simply say "they're liberals because they wanna f*ck", or "they're conservative to show off power".
AS a matter of fact, I'm going to remove "all" from the title now :).
How much it weighs depends on individuals, as you say.
Still, it's one of the elements many people miss, and it would be equally incorrect to consider political views only as rational opinions.
And when you analyze large numbers, then you can start seeing trends that also overlap with the changing sexual goals and strategies.
Very interesting. Thanks for sharing. Food for thoughts.
Here is another one for you, regarding the source: I don’t remember where I found this idea. It stuck with me:
Conservatism has a negative bias towards people: in general, left to themselves, people are dangerous/evil.
Progressivism has a positive bias towards people: in general, left to themselves, people are good. Example: Sweden.
So conservatism is more based on fear/pessimism while progressivism is an optimist political philosophy.
Small note: I would not oppose liberalism and conservatism as these are the American terminology. What they call liberals we call the left or progressivists in Europe. As you might know.
That’s why conservatism is a political philosophy for the dominant members of society: so they can keep their advantages.
John: Conservatism has a negative bias towards people: in general, left to themselves, people are dangerous/evil.
So conservatism is more based on fear/pessimism while progressivism is an optimist political philosophy.
True.
John: Small note: I would not oppose liberalism and conservatism as these are the American terminology. What they call liberals we call the left or progressivists in Europe. As you might know.
Yes, true.
Like you say, no matter the terminology, we're talking about the same thing. Behind the political ideology there is a different mindset, a different value system (right-wing value safety and order, belonging to a "homeland", the "flag", etc.) and, probably, a different psychological makeup (Pinker).
Right-wing also tends to use power more repressively.
Lakoff says:
The conservative moral system is based on the strict father who needs to impose discipline and order on the children -and on the world around
You can then see the same attitude towards relationships.
This is why in the red pill, which is mostly right-wing, you see an obsession against independent women and a craving for control.
Very interesting ideas.
Like you say, no matter the terminology, we're talking about the same thing.
Yes, we are talking about the same thing. That is a clarification. My intention is to express what the word liberalism means for me (more or less, I don't see a strong link between liberalism and capitalism), frow wikipedia. As compared with liberalism as left-wing or progressivism.
Liberalism is a political and moral philosophy based on liberty, consent of the governed and equality before the law.[1][2][3] Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but they generally support free markets, free trade, limited government, individual rights (including civil rights and human rights), capitalism, democracy, secularism, gender equality, racial equality, internationalism, freedom of speech, freedom of the press and freedom of religion.[4][5][6][7][8][9][10] Yellow is the political colour most commonly associated with liberalism.[11][12][13]
Liberalism became a distinct movement in the Age of Enlightenment, when it became popular among Western philosophers and economists. Liberalism sought to replace the norms of hereditary privilege, state religion, absolute monarchy, the divine right of kings and traditional conservatism with representative democracy and the rule of law. Liberals also ended mercantilist policies, royal monopolies and other barriers to trade, instead promoting free trade and free markets.[14] Philosopher John Locke is often credited with founding liberalism as a distinct tradition, based on the social contract, arguing that each man has a natural right to life, liberty and property and governments must not violate these rights.[15] While the British liberal tradition has emphasized expanding democracy, French liberalism has emphasized rejecting authoritarianism and is linked to nation-building.[16]
This is why in the red pill, which is mostly right-wing, you see an obsession against independent women and a craving for control.
Very interesting as well. I do believe that we have different psychological drives and that we tend to value what brings us more pleasure. So if I'm scared of the unknown, then control reassures me and I'll be looking for way to increase my control (and rationalize this of course as "normal" or "good" or "objective").
The Blank slate moved up my list, thank you.