Members of the LDS church have been stereotyped as extremely
conservative when it comes to politics. As a whole, members of the church are
thought to be conservative on all political point of views including economics,
lifestyle and governmental control. Although this is true for the majority of
the members of the LDS, a conservative political stance does not identify the
LDS church and all of the members in the group. The reason that a general
stereotype has been created around political views of members of the church is
due to the fact that the majority of the members are conservative. In a recent
study it was stated that, “74% of Mormons are
Republican-leaning” (Harris, Paul). Due to the fact that the majority of the
members do lean more towards the Republican side of politics then a blanket
stereotype has been created that all Mormons are republicans.
Although many people believe that
most Mormons are not Democrats, nor ever would be, this is a false stereotype.
In a recent article published by the newspaper, The Guardian, several people stated that this is simply not true.
The article stated, “In Utah last year, a state organisation was formed called
LDS Democrats – the LDS referring to the faith's full name, the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-Day Saints – and it has grown to 2,000 members.” (Harris,
Paul). The problem with others identifying the LDS group as all members being
conservative in politics is that generalizations are being made to the group
and changes are not being taken into account. Many people who are not members
of the church are applying a primordialist viewpoint on the situation.
Primordialism is, “an approach to understanding identity which assumes that
identities are something people are born with or that emerge through deep psychological
processes in early childhood, given one’s family and community context. (153).
The stereotype that Mormons are all conservative has been able to survive and
thrive because others do not take into account that our group is made up of
individuals who think and act for themselves. Although we all can identify with
being LDS that does not mean that we all identify with our political opinions.
Being a member of the LDS church does not mean that each of us is automatically
a republican, it is not something is we are born with or automatically change
when we join this church. The point of view that would be more beneficial to
individuals who are looking at the LDS group would be a constructivist point of
view. Constructivism is, “an approach to understanding identity which assumes
that political identities are malleable, even if they often appear to be
primordial, and suggests that we think of identity as an evolving political
process, rather than as a fixed set of identity categories” (153). We are a growing community, with members of
our group evolving and changing into something else.
Although the political identity of
the LDS members has generally been thought of as a conservative group of people
who are not democrats, recent studies have shown this stereotype to be
false. It was stated in the article from
The Guardian that, “As the church
grows it is likely to become more politically diverse”
(Harris, Paul). The identity of the
members of the LDS church has always been looked at through primordialist point
of views; however, it is necessary that a constructivist stance is taken when
looking at our political views. Each member is an individual and will act as
so, which means that the stereotype against LDS members is false.
Works Cited
Samuels,
David J. Comparative Politics. San
Francisco: Pearson, 2013. Book.
Harris, Paul. Mormons in the spotlight as a faith goes mainstream. The Guardian.
18 Aug 2012. Web. 12 Oct 2012. < http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/aug/18/mormons-mainstream-romney-election>.
I liked how your introduction starts. It shows that you have researched and thought long about the topic.
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