Excellent reminder of the fluidity of political preferences of groups over time. Obviously Prohibition is probably the first major effect women had on national policy once they won the right to vote, and was indicative of the fact that women tended to be more socially conservative than men in the 20th century - higher religiosity, more interest in regulating vices. You see this as late as the classic Tipper Gore crusade against certain genres of music!
I wonder how much of the liberal shift in women's voting patterns is driven by the decline in religiosity. I am sure right wing cultural critics would argue that the religion of the left is now pc/wokism, and there's probably a kernel of truth to that, although as with all right wing angst about political correctness it's overblown and totally uninterested in examining right wing cultural rot.
There is a commonality between puritan religiosity and wokeness. In both cases they’re moralistic policing of others’ behavior, seeking to use social norms and etiquette to coerce “good” behavior. There’s a strong focus on “correct” belief and language.
The woke millennial mom is the church lady of the 2020s.
" . . . the ability to construct an internally consistent argument does not necessarily correlate with truth-seeking behavior."
This is elegantly stated. The link to "randomized controlled trials" is certainly the ideal way to illustrate the hypothetical nature of purely intellectual models. Ordinary people don't have the advantage of social science training (me neither) and simulacra of objective data bombard us when we "do our own research." Ms. Demsas's watchword can be, and in less elegant form often is, deployed by those who have adopted conspiracy theories when responding to clear and cogent "normie" arguments.
The problem, I think, lies in the plasticity of our understanding of "truth-seeking." "Truth" is always contingent (a "truth" I've accepted while understanding many others don't), and for any truth-seeking statement to be accepted as reasonably objective there must always be a foundation of subjective trust in the source. When the practice of social science leads to a "replication crisis," as has been the case recently, I think it's possible to see how longstanding norms of practice have undermined trust and, through inattention, allowed that loss to spread to hard sciences, like medicine. It's not hard to find parallels in socio-political practice.
it makes sense that where political analysis is concerned, *shared experiences or circumstances* would be a way more salient lens than *shared immutable identity traits* because politics can actually affect people's experiences or circumstances, but politics can't affect or change their immutable identity traits
I think the best way to reduce crime is to make it possible to live a comfortable entertainment consumption-rich lifestyle on 20 hours/week. Jail is better than McDonalds.
Excellent reminder of the fluidity of political preferences of groups over time. Obviously Prohibition is probably the first major effect women had on national policy once they won the right to vote, and was indicative of the fact that women tended to be more socially conservative than men in the 20th century - higher religiosity, more interest in regulating vices. You see this as late as the classic Tipper Gore crusade against certain genres of music!
I wonder how much of the liberal shift in women's voting patterns is driven by the decline in religiosity. I am sure right wing cultural critics would argue that the religion of the left is now pc/wokism, and there's probably a kernel of truth to that, although as with all right wing angst about political correctness it's overblown and totally uninterested in examining right wing cultural rot.
Interestingly, there used to be a large gap in religiosity by gender even just a decade or two ago, but it may be evening out in recent years: https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2025/02/26/age-race-education-and-other-demographic-traits-of-us-religious-groups/
There is a commonality between puritan religiosity and wokeness. In both cases they’re moralistic policing of others’ behavior, seeking to use social norms and etiquette to coerce “good” behavior. There’s a strong focus on “correct” belief and language.
The woke millennial mom is the church lady of the 2020s.
" . . . the ability to construct an internally consistent argument does not necessarily correlate with truth-seeking behavior."
This is elegantly stated. The link to "randomized controlled trials" is certainly the ideal way to illustrate the hypothetical nature of purely intellectual models. Ordinary people don't have the advantage of social science training (me neither) and simulacra of objective data bombard us when we "do our own research." Ms. Demsas's watchword can be, and in less elegant form often is, deployed by those who have adopted conspiracy theories when responding to clear and cogent "normie" arguments.
The problem, I think, lies in the plasticity of our understanding of "truth-seeking." "Truth" is always contingent (a "truth" I've accepted while understanding many others don't), and for any truth-seeking statement to be accepted as reasonably objective there must always be a foundation of subjective trust in the source. When the practice of social science leads to a "replication crisis," as has been the case recently, I think it's possible to see how longstanding norms of practice have undermined trust and, through inattention, allowed that loss to spread to hard sciences, like medicine. It's not hard to find parallels in socio-political practice.
That line about internally consistent arguments not being the same as truth could be a slogan for our times
it makes sense that where political analysis is concerned, *shared experiences or circumstances* would be a way more salient lens than *shared immutable identity traits* because politics can actually affect people's experiences or circumstances, but politics can't affect or change their immutable identity traits
Great article
I think the best way to reduce crime is to make it possible to live a comfortable entertainment consumption-rich lifestyle on 20 hours/week. Jail is better than McDonalds.