Ellis And Stimson Analysis

Ellis and Stimson (2012) find that among the conservatives who are moderately sophisticated, increased media exposure brings an increased likelihood of being “conflicted.” They argue that conflicted conservatives are the natural result of non-ideologues who follow the media. The media tend to report on the positive results of government action (which results in the group’s liberal economic and social policy preferences), while also trumpeting the worth of the conservative label (in a non-political sense, such as by defining it as hard-work, honesty, law-abidingness, etc.) As a result, patriotically motivated Americans will tend to be Republican, conflicted conservatives. Consistent with this view, Ellis and Stimson (2012) note that it is …show more content…
In our view, these patriots are more of the type of symbolic or even constructive patriots, marked by the mix of national identity and positive feeling, such as when seeing the American flag flying high. We do not believe that their desire for security and increased sense of threat, which would correlate with our view of patriotism (because stronger group identifiers are also more sensitive to group threat; Henri and Tajfel year), necessarily leads them to the blind and uncritical support of their nation (Parker 2010). Additionally, patriotism is not nationalism, which also encompasses an affinity for the nation but includes a sense of superiority over other nations, resulting in uncritical patriotism and endorsement of more authoritarian values (Kemmelmeir and Winter …show more content…
Their patriotic-motivated engagement leads them to follow politics in the media, and the economic reporting communicates the message that economic performance is important for the country, and it also reports the nation’s economic status itself. Patriotic feelings do not motivate Americans to endorse an ideological agenda (that is, one of the ideological group’s sets of policy prescriptions), but it may motivate them to reward and punish politicians based on economic performance with the goal of leading to an economically healthier

Show More

Related Documents: Ellis And Stimson Analysis

Conressional Influence Essay