Essay On:

“International Political Happenings in last ten years and its effect“

Since the dawn of humankind, humans tend to have an inbuilt drive to engage in political discourse. Sometimes, the question of one’s political leaning becomes a matter of life and death.

The polarity of the left-wing and right-wing is a riveting phenomenon highlighted by many great thinkers of the time.

Social Psychologists

Group division is one thing that comes naturally to us humans ( social psychologists have shown that if we put random people together in a group, it is about time that a group identity emerges, with its own rituals, practices, and a distinct culture).

The one thing that best facilitates group loyalty and ethics is the presence of an enemy group. The rivalry with the enemy group serves as the antecedent condition for large-scale in-group cooperation. This feeling of ‘us’ versus ‘them’ has been well ingrained in our system.

Political System

In the contemporary world, the political system is divided into the left-wing and the right-wing. In most countries especially in America, this division is so polarised that the point of view of the other side seems absurd and pointless.

The impulsive and emotional outbursts associated with political discourse tend to indicate something deeply embedded in human nature.

To understand the deep roots of our political behavior, we must look at it from the perspective of how natural selection would have built it in our system.

In the ancestral environment, conflicts were over issues such as who would get the larger share of the hunt rather than trivial issues such as gender pronouns.

Since the conflict over the share of the hunt proved to be a matter of life and death, the emotional uprisings and aggression caused by such a debate seems justified.

Evolutionary History

Throughout Evolutionary history, this pattern of behavior got deeply fitted into our system leading to massive political conflicts.

This behavioral adaptation made perfect sense in the ancestral environment but seems to be outdated in the modern environment, yet it is still with us.

(In some sense, this is what the discipline of Evolutionary Psychology is all about- adaptations that took place in the context of the pre-historic environment yet still being stuck, with us, though their importance faded with time, whatever that is).

For instance, the issue of illegal immigration does not directly affect the survival of an individual yet, still, he would experience an emotional uprising when engaged in its debate. He may even proceed to ruin some of his social relations over the topic. Again such behavior was adaptive in the purest sense in the ancestral environment, but the genetic coding has made such a political behavior innate.

“We are stuck with the political genes.”

From a Darwinian perspective, political discourses are struggles for attaining power and ranks in the hierarchy rather than attempts to understand the truth.

The two prevalent tools granted to us by natural selection are namely, deception and self-deception. At the most basic possible level, our purpose in life (from a Darwinian perspective) is to rise in the status hierarchy and copulate to ensure the continuity of our genetic material.

Deceiving others of our intentions in political discourse is one of the ways to increase our social status. While we may be aware that we are deceiving others, sometimes it is better that we ourselves aren’t. Cause as the saying goes,

“The best lies are the lies that we tell ourselves.”

Here comes the role of another ingredient namely-’Self Deception.’

Let us understand with the example of a hypothetical Right-Wing Hindu devoted to the teachings of Vedas and practices the Hindu way of life with all his heart.

While engaging in political discourse with someone from the left he would be convinced of his loyal devotion to his belief system. While for an Evolutionary Psychologist, this would be a case of self-deception.

He unconsciously got convinced of his devotion as it served as the means to attain social status among others in the social network as sound arguments in favor of his worldview would increase his following among his fellow supporters therefore, the benefit concurred would be worth the lie.

Self Deception is much more efficient than mere Deception as much more sound arguments would be produced only if you yourself are convinced of the cause.

Once the root causes for political behavior are clarified, we may proceed to look at the root causes of political polarisation and understand exactly, what is responsible for the ‘us’ versus ‘them’ mentality.

Left vs. Right

The prominent Social Psychologist Jonathan Haidt has been one of the most influential figures involved in studying the differences in the political orientation of individuals while his claim of group-level selection might be debatable, overall, he provides a decent framework for understanding this phenomenon.

This Groupish behavior in the end serves the selfish individual needs regardless of whether one is conscious of it or not. This selfish nature of humans serves as the foundation for all altruistic behavior. To better understand it, think in terms of tit for tat,

‘if I help him in the present, he may help me in the future, thus increasing the chances of my rise in the hierarchy.’

Haidt demonstrates five universal moral principles present in each of us — Care, Fairness, Loyalty, Authority, and Sanctity. The claim here is that these foundations are used differently and to different extents by the political right and left.

While The Left Wing makes more use of the Care and Fairness foundation, the Right Wing makes use of all five in almost equal proportion, giving them what Haidt calls the ‘Conservative Advantage.’

From the Evolutionary perspective, we can safely say that hierarchies are natural, however, if the one at the top becomes tyrannical his subordinates get rid of him (as it is not in their genetic interest to get oppressed). This aspect of social reality is represented by the Left Wing.

While preserving the existing social order also seems to be the smart thing to do, it has so far served the selfish needs of the individuals encompassing the society, thus increasing their reproductive potential. The Right-Wing represents this aspect of social reality.

Final words

Still, there is a lot to unravel about the complexities of the Political Behavior of Man. While the merger of Social Sciences with Evolutionary Sciences has brought us one step closer, we are still miles away from conceiving it in its totality. The journey must go on.

By: Ansh Maini

Write and Win: Participate in Creative writing Contest & International Essay Contest and win fabulous prizes.