| A recent article titled "Are Political Orientations Genetically Transmitted?" and published in the journal of the American Political Science Association examined to what extend identical or monozygotic twins and fraternal or dizygotic twins shared the same political orientations. (The New York Times also offers an overview of the article) They found that identical twins, who share the same genetic code, were more likely to have similar political orientations on a left-right axis than were fraternal twins, who do not have an identical genetic code. Thus, it is estimated that about the half of variations in the political orientations of people are explained by genetic variations.
It must be noted that what is genetically inherited is more a way of seeing things and tackling political issues than a particular opinion on the topic of the day. Moreover, genetic differences have little influence over partisan identification: they explain only 14 percent of variations in political party affiliation. Partisan identification seems to be instead influenced by environmental factors such as the education received from parents. Thus, a person whose personality leans to the right can be reared by her parents to vote for a left-leaning party and vice versa. This could explain why, even though most Western democracies have a great party which leans to the left and another one which leans to the right, we still find a left wing and a right wing inside each of these parties. For example, this brings to mind these "centrists" who often seem to be uncomfortable with the left-wing or right-wing fundamental orientations of their respective parties. The great politicans of the past would not have been surprised by the results of this article. James Madison, one of the fathers of the American Constitution, wrote in 1787 in the Federalist #10 that "[t]he latent causes of faction are thus sown in the nature of man." In 1865, during the debates on the Confederation of Canada, George-Étienne Cartier told the Legislative Assembly of the United Province of Canada that "[d]issimilarity [...] appears to be the order of the physical world and of the moral world, as well as in the political world." Thus, "[d]istinctions of this kind will always exist." Finally, Wilfrid Laurier, in his famous 1877 speech on political liberalism, explained that men naturally divided themselves between liberals and conservatives. | Un récent article intitulé "Are Political Orientations Genetically Transmitted?" et publié dans le journal de l'American Political Science Association a examiné jusqu'à quel point les jumeaux identiques ou monozygotes et les jumeaux fraternels ou dizygotes partagaient les mêmes orientations politiques. (Le New York Times offre aussi un survol de l'article) Ils ont trouvé que les jumeaux identiques, qui partagent le même code génétique, avaient plus tendance à avoir des orientations politiques similaires sur un axe gauche-droite que les jumeaux fraternels, qui n'ont pas un code génétique identique. Ainsi, on estime qu'environ la moitié des différences dans les orientations politiques des gens s'expliquent par des différences génétiques.
Il est à noter que ce qui est hérité génétiquement est plus une façon de voir les choses et d'aborder les dossiers politiques qu'une opinion précise sur le sujet du jour. De plus, les différences génétiques influencent peu l'identification partisane: elles n'expliquent que 14% des différences dans l'affiliation à un parti politique. L'identification partisane semble plutôt influencée par des facteurs environnementaux tels que l'éducation reçue des parents. Ainsi, une personne dont la personalité tend à droite peut être élevée par ses parents à voter pour un parti qui tend à gauche et vice-versa. Ceci pourrait expliquer pourquoi, bien que la plupart des démocraties occidentales aient un grand parti qui tend à gauche et un autre qui tend à droite, on trouve quand même une aile gauche et une aile droite à l'intérieur de chacun de ces partis. On pense par exemple à ces "centristes" qui semblent souvent incomfortables avec les orientations fondamentales de gauche ou de droite de leurs partis respectifs. Les grands politiciens du passé n'auraient pas été surpris par les résultats de cet article. James Madison, un des pères de la Constitution américaine, a écrit en 1787 dans le Federalist #10 que "[l]es causes latentes de la division sont ainsi semées dans la nature humaine." En 1865, lors des débats sur la Confédération du Canada, George-Étienne Cartier a déclaré à l'Assemblée législative du Canada-Uni que "la dissemblance parait être dans l'ordre du monde physique, moral et politique." Ainsi, "[u]ne distinction de cette nature existera toujours." Finalement, Wilfrid Laurier, dans son fameux discours de 1877 sur le libéralisme politique, a expliqué que les hommes se divisaient naturellement entre libéraux et conservateurs. |
Laurent,
Fascinating. But the real question is whether or not my inborn 'Tory-entation' is protected under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms... Do you think the Court Challenges Program would take on my case?
Écrit par: Linda à juin 29, 2005 10:28 PMYour email address bounces.
I am a writer and graphic designer whose work has appeared over the years in Playboy, Best American Short Stories, Library of America's "Writing Los Angeles," and many other publications. I occasionally contribute book reviews to the San Francisco Chronicle, and administer newsroom-l, an email discussion list for journalists.
I'd be grateful for further details on the discrepancies between the following statements.
"Thus, it is estimated that about the half of variations in the political orientations of people are explained by genetic variations."
"Moreover, genetic differences have little influence over partisan identification: they explain only 14 percent of variations in political party affiliation."
Many thanks for any help you might be able to give me on this. I will appreciation having your name and one-line bio so that I can credit your answer.
Écrit par: Jules Siegel à juillet 5, 2005 08:02 PMHi Mr. Siegel,
In the context of American politics, what is meant by political orientation is the liberal-conservative dichotomy, while political party affiliation is represented by the Democrat-Republican dichotomy. Thus, while Democrats are generally liberal and the Republicans are generally conservative, there are still some conservative Democrats or liberal Republicans.
The point of the article is that liberals and conservatives are, to a large extent, born, whereas Democrats and Republicans are made. If liberal Democratic parents have a child with conservative-leaning genes (which is quite possible due to genetic recombination and to the fact that these parents may not have 100% liberal-leaning genes), they may not be able to raise him to be a liberal, but they might raise him to be a conservative Democrat.
My name is Laurent Moss and you can present me as "an independent French Canadian pundit from Montreal"
I hope this helps.
P.S. If you want to e-mail me, you simply have to remove the "NOSPAM" part.
Écrit par: Laurent à juillet 5, 2005 09:00 PM