Beyond "Heartless Conservative" and "Bleeding Heart Liberal" Caricatures: How Religiosity Shapes the Relationship Between Political Orientation and Empathy
Is political orientation associated with self-reported empathy? Popular caricatures frame political orientation in terms of the "heartless conservative" and the "bleeding heart liberal." Yet, previous research has produced findings that present mixed evidence to support these car...
| Published in: | Journal for the scientific study of religion |
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| Authors: | ; ; |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Wiley-Blackwell
[2019]
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| In: |
Journal for the scientific study of religion
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| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Religiosity
/ Political attitude
/ Empathy
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| RelBib Classification: | AD Sociology of religion; religious policy AG Religious life; material religion CG Christianity and Politics |
| Further subjects: | B
Divine support
B Religious Beliefs B Political Ideology B Empathy B Political Orientation |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (Resolving-System) Volltext (doi) |
| Summary: | Is political orientation associated with self-reported empathy? Popular caricatures frame political orientation in terms of the "heartless conservative" and the "bleeding heart liberal." Yet, previous research has produced findings that present mixed evidence to support these caricatures. Using data from the 2004 General Social Survey, analyses show that the caricatures of the caring liberal and the cold-hearted conservative are supported by results for empathy-in which conservatives have lower levels of empathy than liberals-but this pattern holds only when individuals also have low levels of religiosity. In the context of high religiosity, self-identified conservatives do not have lower empathy than self-identified liberals, net of a host of sociodemographic characteristics. Our observations demonstrate that patterns in empathy across political orientation are evident only when levels of different forms of religiosity are considered. |
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| ISSN: | 1468-5906 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Journal for the scientific study of religion
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1111/jssr.12595 |