Blog 5

Emily Bashaw

Blog Post #5

            Although the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints does not normally take specific political stances on one side of the spectrum or another. However, when a value held dear to the members of the LDS faith becomes jeopardized by some outside political ideal, the leaders of the LDS church frequently determine to make a statement encouraging their members to follow the counsel of their leaders to remember the strong values of family and provident living that are fundamental to the Mormon culture. Because of the importance of the “typical” family as central to all else, which is more of a conservative way of thinking, the ideals and social stances preached by latter-day leaders to their followers frequently cause most of these American Latter-Day Saint citizens to lean toward the conservative side of the political spectrum.

            According to Samuel’s Comparative Politics, primordialism is defined as “an approach to understanding identity which assumes that identities are something…that emerges through deep psychological processes in early childhood, given one’s family.” This would mean that the everyday Mormon-type of things with which one is raised frequently become deeply ingrained in the identity, even politically, of a person because of the psychological ties it holds. Another type of politicizing identity is known as constructivism which is, “an approach to understanding identity which assumes that political identities are malleable, and suggests that we think of identity as an evolving political process rather than a fixed set of identity categories,” (Samuels 153).

Given these two definitions, the political identity that goes along with the LDS faith is more constructivist in its identification. 26% of current Mormons have been converts to the church in their lifetime (PewResearchCenter). Almost all of these converts were thus converted over the age of 18 – the age at which a person typically leaves home and the close familial and psychological ties that go along with that. Although this is only a quarter of all Mormons, these Mormons were not raised in the church with the conservative-leaning doctrine found in the LDS church being taught to them on a regular basis when they are young. They have no deep psychological ties to the values taught by the LDS church before they were converted to it.

Although a quarter of all Mormons are considered recent converts, six out of ten Mormons identify themselves as politically conservative – more than any other religion in America. An astounding 90% consider themselves conservative or moderates on the political spectrum (Newport). Given these numbers, this would include the converts to the church, those who have not been raised with the LDS faith. Constructivism can appear to be primordial in nature, but identity, in this case, is clearly more evolving in nature and can eventually become set and deeply ingrained in someone (Samuels 153). This political identity is caused more by talks and press releases given by church leaders, heard throughout a person’s life. These continuously shape and change one’s beliefs. The LDS church does not change its stances on important issues, but it has only been in recent years that the leaders of the LDS church have come out with political statements such as strongly in favor of Proposition 8 in California that was for banning gay marriage, and even more recently still in the most recent General Conference, abortion was blatantly spoken of as morally wrong (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints). These various releases continuously shape and factor into the ever-evolving political identity, which suggests that it is malleable in nature, and subject to change.

Most Latter-Day Saints identify themselves as conservative because of the basic beliefs for a strong family found in the church, but the identity is certainly constructive in nature.

Work Cited

"Mormon Church steps into the Prop. 8 battle." LA Times[Los Angeles] 09 10 2008, n. pag. Web. 12 Oct. 2012.

Newport, Frank. Mormons Most Conservative Major Religious Group in U.S.. 2010. Chart. Gallup PoliticsWeb. 12 Oct 2012.

A Portrait of Mormons in the U.S.. 2009. Graphic. PewResearchCenter, Washington D.C.. Web. 12 Oct 2012.

Samuels, David J. Comparative Politics. Pearson Education, Inc. 153.