Mormon Identity

Mormon’s Political Identity

I believe that there is a clear political identity within the Latter-day Saints community that lives within the United States of America. I believe that Mormons identify themselves as politically aligned as Republican/Conservative. This identity is formed in part on based on the teaching of the LDS Church at which party members feel more closely aligns with church doctrine. Other formal this view based on kinship bonds.

In our text book of Comparative Politics (2012) defines political identity as “the way that individual categorize themselves and others, and how they understand the power relationships of domination and oppression that exist between groups”.  According to a national survey done by the Pew Forum (2012) 66% view themselves as Conservative and only 8% view themselves as Liberal. Nationally 37% say they are Conservative and 22% say they are Liberal. When view at which party they more aligned with a whapping 74% of Mormons said they were Republican leaning and only 17% said they were leaning Democrat. On the national level 45% said Republican leaning and 48% leaning said Democrat leaning. This shows that there is a huge difference (almost twice as much) in the distribution in that of America as a whole and that of the LDS population. Also 75% of Church members feel that the government should be smaller verse 48% of the general American population. This shows that most Mormons have a similar understanding of the “power relationships of domination and oppression that exist between groups” as three fourths have the same view that the Government should be smaller. It clearly that most shown that the Latter-day Saints have a politic identity as Conservative/Republic.  

The next to answer question is why is there is such a strong political identity with the Latter-day Saint people. I believe that both primordialism and constructivism both help to how these identities are formed. Primordialism focus on kinship bonds and early associations that make-up ones political identity.  Kinship bonds and early associations help explain political identity by saying that people from loyalties to survive as children. This means that individual adopt the political identity of their family and friends. If there are higher concentrations of members in an area then a higher percentage of people should have that political identity. This can be seen in that in the west where there is a much high concentration of live. In the survey done by the Pew Forum (2012) 69% of Mormons are Conservative and 77% are Republican leaning in the west with only 58% that are Conservative and 69% are Republican leaning.

The other theory that can be used to the political identity of Mormons is that of constructivism. Constructivism says that social identities can change are formed by social context. In the Pew Forum (2012) twice as many Church members feel that the Republican Party is favorable towards them then the Democrat Party. Also, the when the church stand on moral issues is more closely aligned with that of Conservative ideology and as the Republican Party is seen as more conservative more members are aligned with them. Is effect can be seen in the fact 78% of Mormons that say they are highly committed say that they lean towards the republicans and 74% of the same group say they are Conservative.  The difference in doctrine can when compared to the members with low commitment.  47% of them say they are Conservative and 63% say they are republican leaning. They those that feel that they are more committed feel that they need to be Conservative and those that feel less committed are less Conservative. This shows that church commit has some impact on the political identity of members.

Work Cited

Samuels, David J. "Political Identity." Comparative Politics. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, 2013. 148-72. Print.

Smith, Gregory. "Mormons in America Certain in Their Beliefs, Uncertain of Their Place in Society." PewResearchCenter. Pew Research Center, 12 Jan. 2012. Web. 12 Oct. 2012. <http://www.pewforum.org/uploadedFiles/Topics/Religious_Affiliation/Christian/Mormon/Mormons%20in%20America.pdf>.