Is There a Liberal Gene?
According to scientists at Harvard and UC San Diego, there just might be:
Researchers have determined that genetics could matter when it comes to some adults' political leanings.
According to scientists at UC San Diego and Harvard University, "ideology is affected not just by social factors, but also by a dopamine receptor gene called DRD4." That and how many friends you had during high school.
Call me an unenlightened brute, but whenever I see scientists giving material and/or genetic explanations for major aspects of human behavior--happiness, addiction, politics--I have to roll my eyes. It seems so condescending, doesn't it? It presumes that people are slaves to their genes. It's deterministic and, if true, it seriously undermines the concept of free will. In an era of genetic engineering and test-tube babies, imagine: you'll be able to code your child's political philosophy. (I'm joking--kind of).
On the other hand, if one's political disposition is fated by one's genes, we now know that liberals just can't help their wayward beliefs.
Also, this made me laugh: according to the study, the more friends you have in high school, the more likely you will be liberal. Insert subtext about conservatives here.
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Sep '10
Re: Is There a Liberal Gene?
the more friends you have in high school, the more likely you will be liberal.
Yes, all conservatives are Vincent the Hitman in Collateral just waiting to knock off Michelle Obama sitting in her legal office prosecuting some Korean grocer who just happens to own a swanky nightclub.
May '10
Re: Is There a Liberal Gene?
Based in differential birth rates I would say then that liberalism is doomed.
Jul '10
Re: Is There a Liberal Gene?
It also says that liberals are more open to differing viewpoints, which disqualifies that study as serious research straightaway.
Jun '10
Re: Is There a Liberal Gene?
I think Woody Allen has the "liberal gene," and it may also affect military service. Allen once said, "during the Vietnam War I was classified as 4P. In case of war, I'm a hostage." If there's a liberal gene, that's it.
Oct '10
Re: Is There a Liberal Gene?
Seems fitting that the first syllable of the Liberal gene is pronounced "dope."
May '10
Re: Is There a Liberal Gene?
Liberals love genetic explanations because one can not be held accountable for anything that's "in the genes."
However, it's a very short putt from "Genetics" to "Eugenics."
Jun '10
Re: Is There a Liberal Gene?
I would be willing to bet that frequent consumption of matzo ball soup in childhood has a higher correlation than either of the factors cited, with equal probative value.
Oct '10
Re: Is There a Liberal Gene?
"Call me an unenlightened brute, but whenever I see scientists giving material and/or genetic explanations for major aspects of human behavior--happiness, addiction, politics--I have to roll my eyes. It seems so condescending, doesn't it? It presumes that people are slaves to their genes."
This perception stems more from the nature of science journalism than the scientists themselves. I am working on my doctorate in biology and see this very problem all the time. The poor quality of science journalism is well recognized by scientists who are used to reading reports about their research that completely misses the point. So bad is it that a reporter for the Guardian actually wrote a piece to mock it: http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/the-lay-scientist/2010/sep/24/1
The important caveat that you must always keep in mind when reading a study about complex traits is that the genes implicated only predispose one towards a specific end result. In the case of the mentioned study (actual paper can be found here: http://jhfowler.ucsd.edu/partisanship_voting_and_drd2.pdf ) The DRD2 increases your chances of voting liberal by 1.2-1.4.
Edited on Oct 28, 2010 at 8:41amOct '10
Re: Is There a Liberal Gene?
Not only does the word dopamine begin with "dope" but it ends with "mine." After all, a limousine liberal's weltanschauung is: "What's mine is mine and what's yours is mine to give to the hungry victims of your greed."
May '10
Re: Is There a Liberal Gene?
Yes, but many scientists encourage it. After all, nothing shakes the Federal grant tree better than a good science scare.
Oct '10
Re: Is There a Liberal Gene?
I have not read the paper in any depth to assess the quality of the research, but it is interesting to see that it is published in the Journal of Politics rather than a genetics journal. Things like that can often be suspicious as reviewers in the Journal of Politics are unlikely to have any formal training in genetics and thus may not be able to properly assess the quality of research. For example, Dean Hamer made news several years ago for reporting the finding of a "God Gene." Except he didn't publish it in any peer reviewed journal, but in a book. Why? Because the research was sloppy and would never have passed review for publication in a serious journal.
All that being said, I don't see what the problem is with there being genetic underpinnings to our behavioral dispositions. Genetics can never fully account for our behavior or decisions, just predispose us. There is nothing to be scared in this. We recognize this all the time when we talk about children and how they are "just like their father/mother." So why do so many flip out when a scientist only confirms what we know?
Oct '10
Re: Is There a Liberal Gene?
EJHill
Yes, but many scientists encourage it. After all, nothing shakes the Federal grant tree better than a good science scare. · Oct 28 at 8:46am
Not as many as you think. Most scientists cringe at the way their research is reported. Of course, with federal funding of research essentially being stagnant for the last decade or longer, many researchers find themselves in a situation where the only way to even keep their lab going is to shake the federal tree a bit. Privatization is not the answer. Most companies do not engage in basic research, but in applied research that draws from the basic research produced in the public sector. Public research has been the backbone of American science for decades and is one reason why our country has been a leader in science for so long. You don't know what you will get with basic research and few in the private sector are willing to do the sorts of basic research that is essential.
Jul '10
Re: Is There a Liberal Gene?
This means that we can develop a permanent cure and end liberalism for all time! Finally, a eugenics program that decent people can get behind.
Aug '10
Re: Is There a Liberal Gene?
I've been out of the lab for a long time but I'd guess everything chadn737 is saying is (still) exactly right or (after all) darn close. There are certainly fashions in funding but I don't believe they are driven by charlatans. All the other scientists will know if you're lying; or, as you must be if you're publishing in the Journal of Politics (or even Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, which ought to be reputable but isn't because it just ain't peer-reviewed), kidding. 'Course sometimes it takes a major e-mail leak to get a racket shut down; but then, climatology isn't science in any experimental, vulnerable-to-disproof sense.
Federal funding of basic research really is just about the only tree in the forest to shake. It would be nice if there were other, equally significant sources of money. But in the meantime, Americans really ought to be proud of the way things have worked. I doubt anybody could find any constitutional justification for Federal underwriting of scientific inquiry; but the fact is, it works.
May '10
Re: Is There a Liberal Gene?
Going from memory, and there is a Ricochet principal who can confirm this, but he once wrote something like "How does someone become a Republican or a Democrat? He was born that way."
OK, Emily. Go confront him.....
Aug '10
Re: Is There a Liberal Gene?
What idiot scientist is studying this rather than finding the important stuff like the "nice gene" or the "ebullient factor". Or were these awards in the high school graduating class ?
Aug '10
Re: Is There a Liberal Gene?
That's why it has to "recruit".
Aug '10
Re: Is There a Liberal Gene?
Given that I was a left-winger when I was younger, and a right-winger now that I'm older, that pretty much dispenses with the "genetic" argument.
Oct '10
Re: Is There a Liberal Gene?
This actually fits with the argument of you look at the loss of dopaminergic neurons over time. This is the reason why the elderly will at a certain point present with Parkisonian-like symptoms, because there is the loss (or loss of function) of those specific neurons as we age.
Although it is a far cry to explain complex behaviors such as political leanings through single gene expression, there are a number of behaviors that can be linked with certain genetic conditions ("meow" of Cri_du_chat, self mutilation of Lesch-Nyhan_syndrome) and the example of Phineas Gage showed a direct link between biology and behavior.
If there is a liberal "cure," there could also be liberal "therapy"(scary).
However as stated before, this predetermined/genetic reasoning negates the effects and influences of experience, environment, free-will, and responsibility, which seems myopic.
Oct '10
Re: Is There a Liberal Gene?
At my first stop in search of Fowler ‘s study, I learned it’s the “novelty seeking” dopamines at work in high school friending:
"[Fowler] and his colleagues hypothesized that people with the novelty-seeking gene variant would be more interested in learning about their friends’ points of view. As a consequence, people with this genetic predisposition who have a greater-than-average number of friends would be exposed to a wider variety of social norms and lifestyles, which might make them more liberal than average."
Because everyone knows peer pressure encourages intellectual diversity! Doesn’t Fowler realize political trajectories are established in Nursery School?
Next up, a wild ride through the genetospheric "War of Conservatism and Liberalism, 2009.” Apparently, "DRD4 is one of the most polymorphic genes,” and “one of the most behaviorally variant." Dopamines, is there anything they can’t do?
For unrivaled obsession with pegging conservatism to primitive brain function, it’s Berkeley, hands down. “Epistemic closure” was first sighted in this 2003 classic:
"Analyzing political conservatism as motivated social cognition integrates theories of personality (authoritarianism, dogmatism–intolerance of ambiguity), epistemic and existential needs (for closure, regulatory focus, terror management), and ideological rationalization (social dominance, system justification)."