Lakoff's Liberal and Conservative Frames

Last night's interview with Frank Luntz reminded me of one of my favorite social scientists - George Lakoff. Lakoff is a cognitive linguist who is working on doing for the Democrats what Luntz has done for the Republicans. He talks about how language is the key to presenting progressive ideas. Lakoff says that liberals and conservatives have two different "frames" that they use to look at various political issues, and they are based on different views of family. The conservative view is the "strict father" view, and the liberal view is the "nurturant parent" view. Conservatives look at the role of the strict father as imposing strict discipline, in order to teach their children morality and self reliance. Liberals look at the role of the nurturant parent as teaching empathy and responsibility and responsiveness to others' needs. Thus, conservatives look at successful executives as people who have demonstrated discipline and self reliance, and as such, should be rewarded. The poor should be punished for being dependent and undisciplined. Liberals look at the poor as people we have a responsibility to help, and corporate executives as having more than they need. Thus, liberals look at taxes as part of their responsibility to the less fortunate, while conservatives use phrases such as "tax relief," to describe taxes as an affliction. Perhaps if taxes were described as "community responsibility," people would respond differently to Democratic proposals.

Come to think of it, Lakoff's theory also describes the different responses we all had to the Ohio voters in minority neighborhoods. Liberals like me were almost moved to tears, and thought that we owe it to these people to make voting less difficult. Conservatives thought that the voters (or those were were attempting to be voters) were shirking their responsibility to be well informed on the procedures.

This use of language to frame the debate is important to keep in mind when writing for e-newsletters, as well as for web sites and blogs.