Sociology

[Tupac Shakur]

What a ****ing worthless discipline.

What are the four primary characteristics most associated with those Americans sympathetic to the Tea Party? "Authoritarianism, ontological insecurity (fear of change), libertarianism and nativism." So says one of the many findings in a study presented to the American Sociological Association on Monday.

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/08/study-tea-party-members-cultural-dispositions-authoritarianism-ontological-insecurity-libertarianism.php

How the **** can a group be both authoritarian and libertarian? And are we really supposed to believe that the crazy ****ers who were perfectly willing to cause a government default are afraid of change? Jesus, what a stupid study...

[Al B. Sure!]

Drake, it's possible to exhibit cognitive dissonance in one's own positions; it's possible for one to hold both authoritarian views on some issues and libertarian ones on others; it is also possible that the tea party is not monolithic and certain segments of the tea party hold authoritarian views while other segments are libertarian.

There's a lot of ways this can be explained without it being the people who did the study are retards.

[giblets]

Maybe you should read the definitions in the study.

• Authoritarianism: respondents believe that obedience by children is more important than creativity, and that deference to authority is an important value.

• Libertarianism: respondents believe there should not be regulations or limitations on expressions such as clothing, television shows, and musical lyrics.

[Al B. Sure!]

Okay and if you even skimmed the study itself, you would have seen that authoritarianism is, strangely, with respect to child-rearing. "We measure authoritarian disposition by summing responses to three questions about attitudes toward child rearing"

[giblets]

In our poll, 51% of the people who are very concerned about "changes taking place in American society these days" were TPM supporters compared to just 21% of those who were just somewhat or not at all concerned.

That's how the crazy ****ers who wanted a default can be described as "afraid of change".

[Tupac Shakur]

I'm glad you sociologist-level intellects are around to explain to us all how stupid and poorly-designed this study really is.

[Ogie Oglethorpe]

Or for that matter how poorly defined their interpretations/definitions applied are.

[MrFun]

Here's what the Tea Baggers stand for:

1) bigotry
2) hatred (homophobia, racism, sexism, anti-Semtism, Islamophobia, xenophobia, ethnocentrism)
3) willful ignorance
4) elite worship (tax breaks and coddling of the rich, removal of services for middle class, working class, and poor)

So now that I've made the corrections, we can close this thread I guess.

[giblets]

It sounds like the Tea Baggers are just typical Republicans.

[Ecthy]

I'm glad you sociologist-level intellects are around to explain to us all how stupid and poorly-designed this study really is.

Excuse me: the one person posting on this thread which has shown the poorest understanding of how to deal with a study has been you, judging research terms solely from everyday associations.

[DaShi]

What an embarrassing thread.

[Ecthy]

Now it certainly is.

[DaShi]

Cute

[VetLegion]

Tea Party

Wish it all the best and wish we had it here.

[Hauldren Collider]

The tea party is whatever you want to portray it as, apparently. It's so much easier to address the crazy, ridiculous elements of a movement than actually confront the more significant fraction that has beliefs as legitimate as your own.