Re: Bartels
Julio Huato wrote:
Doug Henwood wrote:
Let me put in a special word for my interview with Larry Bartels http://www.princeton.edu/~bartels/kansas.pdf. In that dry, academic poli sci way, he argues convincingly that cultural issues are not pushing the white working class to the right, and that people are more likely to hold both liberal (or conservative) economic and social points of view. Really worth a listen.
But, as I understand it, the argument is not whether people can or cannot hold both “liberal economic” and “social conservative” views. I’m sure they can hold of sorts of combinations and permutations. Rather, the question is which of their views matter most to people at the voting booth. If white workers hold “liberal economic” views but end up voting for Bush, then their economic “liberalism” is of little or no consequence.
Well yeah, but Bartels addresses that issue: economic views have more influence than cultural views. And the issue matters less if most people hold compatible views on economic & cultural issues, which he also shows.
Doug