The Empty Quarter of American Politics
by Genji Schmeder
14 April 2006
Introduction
Michael Adams <http://www.michaeladams.ca/>, a Canadian social researcher and
author of several books analyzing his country, has recently published “American
Backlash”, a study of the drift of social values in the United States of America toward
disengagement from politics and society. Politically engaged Americans tend to see
their countrymen in categories of conservative, progressive and unaffiliated. But Adams
uses survey responses from more than 8,000 people over a 12-year span to show that the
fastest growing segment in American society is the uninvolved. He considers the chasm
between involved and uninvolved far wider than between conservatives and liberals. He
claims social and political disengagement is already dominant among American youth.
This essay is a summary of Adams' findings. My purpose is to alert my politically
active fellows to the threat of a growing “empty quarter” apathetic to maintaining the
community. Our discussions and organizing are conducted with those who speak, listen
and get involved, so it's easy to overlook nonparticipants. But if that's the fastest
growing segment, their abstention creates an ever heavier drag on any social project.
The Author and his Books
Michael Adams is president of Environics <http://www.environics.net/>, a Canadian
social survey firm which has done extensive polling in both countries. “American
Backlash: the untold story of social change in the United States” was published by
Viking Canada in November 2005. It has yet to be reviewed by an American
publication and is difficult to find on sale in the USA. It's available from Canadian book
dealers like <http://indigo.ca/> for around CA$24. The other relevant book of Adams is
“Fire and Ice”, published in 2004 by Penguin Canada and available at
<http://indigo.ca/> for around CA$23. It uses data through year 2000 to compare
Canadian and American values.
Social Values Methodology
This is the method used by Adams' firm Environics to compose the questionnaires and
interpret the responses on which these books are based. It was severely criticized by
David Frum in the National Review magazine (November 2003) for its use in “Fire and
Ice”, but Adams has refuted that criticism. Questionnaires try to learn basic attitudes
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and not opinions on current issues. Data is gathered about numerous value related
attitudes, beliefs and behaviors, called “social values”. The books explain the
methodology in considerable detail; I've also read articles and correspondence found on
the web (including the exchange with Frum).
Social values include fundamentals like “patriarchy”, the belief in the need for
dominance of the father in the family. They also include indicators of social
disintegration like “acceptance of violence”, the attitude of indifference toward violence
or belief it may be justified to attain goals. Other examples of about one hundred “social
values” in the Environics questionnaires are buying on impulse, civic engagement, duty,
ecological fatalism, flexible families, gender parity, living virtually, national pride,
personal escape, religiosity, sexism, traditional gender identity, work ethic and
xenophobia.
The Social Values Map
Conclusions are presented on a graph of two axes ranging between the extremes of two
variables. For the USA, the variables are authority and fulfillment. One axis ranges
from high regard for authority to disregard (individualism), while the other ranges from
high social involvement and personal fulfillment to abstention and preoccupation with
personal survival.
The fulfillment variable is similar to sociologist Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of needs:
Physiological, Safety, Love/Belonging, Esteem, Actualization. The more satisfied a
human becomes at basic levels, the better he can focus on personal and social
fulfillment. The converse is preoccupation with immediate self-interest as life descends
into insecurity and disorder.
A person, a group or a specific value would be placed on the graph according to the
intensity of each variable. For example, the value “acceptance of violence” would rank
low in both authority and fulfillment. The exact position of each value in the map is
determined by the position of its most intense supporters. For another example, the
value “patriarchy” is positioned high on the authority axis, as expected, but low on the
fulfillment axis, which is not so obvious but is determined by the kind of American who
most strongly believes in “patriarchy”.
Though values are located on the graph according to the average position of their most
intense supporters, neither book explains how the supporters' positions are derived.
Below is the graph as a map with quadrants indicating the world view that emerges from
combining all the values in that quadrant.
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Findings of “American Backlash”
Examining the psychology of American society as a whole, Adams argues that neither
“red” nor “blue” America represents the overall path of social change. Rather, it is the
nearly half the population disengaged from politics that shows where America is headed.
Ordinary Republicans and Democrats are actually very close on the personal level. Both
tend to exert self control and have a do-it-yourself approach to much of life, from
proactive health care to financial self-management. Politically engaged Democrats and
Republicans also share a strong work ethic and try to instill this in their children. They
are both committed to a community vision and agree that public life depends on strong
civic engagement, ethical behavior and emotional connection among family, friends and
neighbors. Both feel responsible toward society, though Republicans will stress
patriotism and duty while Democrats stress fairness and equality.
Despite the ferocity of the American culture war, the deeper chasm lies between voters
and non-voters, the latter nearly 40 percent of eligible voters in the 2004 presidential
election. The values of the politically disengaged show distinct lack of idealism. They
reject both Republican and Democrat visions of the good life and the ideal community.
They believe neither in patriarchy nor gender equality. They don't embrace traditional
organized religion or personal spiritual practices. In short, they reject both traditional
and progressive values.
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What the Politically Disengaged Care About
The values showing the most pronounced growth in the USA from 1992 to 2004 fall into
three categories: (1) risk-taking and thrill-seeking; (2) Darwinism and exclusion; (3)
consumption and status-seeking. It's important to note that these are not yet the
dominant values in America, but are the dominant trend, especially strong among youth.
The trend of America over the dozen years of this study has been away from traditional
deference to authority and attraction to community, and toward individualistic and selfcentered values.
Risk-taking and thrill-seeking are characteristic of drug use, extreme sports, ultrarealistic video games and gambling. Darwinism and exclusion show up in a growing
resignation to life as brutal competition and lack of concern for the unfortunate.
This shift in values has been mainly intergenerational with the oldest cohort (60 and
over) changing little. But the trend away from authority and society is not a mere
teenage phase; Americans well into middle age are scoring higher on thrill-seeking,
hedonism and Darwinism.
It may seem contradictory that the trend in politics at least since 1996 has been
conservative, but this can be understood as the reaction of the politically engaged to the
decline of traditional values which the disengaged have been leading. The American
political landscape is increasingly detached from American culture. The map below
shows the overall trend of American values over twelve years. The trend line reflects
America's shift away from a society where people were polite, helpful and law-abiding
(whether out of fear of punishment or positive commitment) toward one where neither
sanction nor commitment governs behavior.
Lacking internalized authority and social commitment, the denizens of the lower-left
quadrant are prone to distrust others, to be rude and inconsiderate, to disregard petty
rules, to seek immediate gratification without long perspective. The vacuum of social
commitment and introspection provides room for status seeking through material
symbols of success. Insistence on immediacy leads to the three categories of values of
those rejecting both authority and community.
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Intensity and Thrill-Seeking
Americans at present seem preoccupied with strength, in both connotations of power and
intensity. Power is reassuring. Intensity is absorbing and distracting, enjoyable not only
in physical pleasure but even in fright. The desire for strong national leadership is
driven by national insecurity, and probably also by more existential uncertainty. Over
the twelve years surveyed, Americans have shown increasing desire for intense
experience and acting from impulse and emotion.
Americans also grew stronger on the “attraction for crowds” value, with growing desire
for mass experiences like concerts and large assemblies. Individual loneliness is
compensated by events in stadiums and mega-churches. The evangelical mega-church is
a relatively recent development. Church attendance has stayed fairly constant since the
1950s, so the spread of complexes with huge worship chambers and numerous services
wasn't impelled by running out of space in traditional church buildings. A ceremony of
16,000 persons was held in a Houston Texas football stadium in 2005. This worship
assembly was held not on Sunday morning but on the more exciting Saturday night.
Another value in this category which has grown stronger is “penchant for taking risks”.
This measures willingness to take risks not only to achieve goals but also for the sake of
the risky experience itself. This differs from historic American willingness to take risks
to achieve something. Risk for exhilaration itself is most eagerly embraced by those
without sense of purpose beyond immediate sensation and desire.
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Darwinism and Exclusion
The first term here is better known as “social Darwinism”, the misapplication of Charles
Darwin's natural selection theories to depict human society as an arena for brutal
competition. Acceptance of violence, sexism, xenophobia, ecological fatalism and just
deserts are values representing this aspect of the individualism-survival quadrant.
“Ecological fatalism” is the belief that environmental destruction is inevitable. “Just
deserts” indicates unconcern for social justice, the belief that people get what they
deserve. These values reflect a zero-sum-game mentality, that your gain must result in
my loss.
Reality television is full of the winner-take-all attitude. The chosen “Apprentice” and
the “Survivor” end up with everything. Might, in the forms of manipulation, deceit and
betrayal, makes right. There is no compromise or cooperation in these dramas, and the
losers are dispatched in a spectacle of rejection.
Acceptance of violence was the single fastest growing value in America from 1992 to
2004. Official crimes rates have declined in the same period, so attitude doesn't
translate directly into action. The four propositions eliciting this value from survey
respondents include “Violence is a part of life; it's no big deal” and “It's acceptable to
use physical force to get something you really want.” The minority agreeing with the
propositions has doubled over twelve years. Among Americans 15 to 20 years old, 38
percent agree. Acceptance of violence is not a prominent value of conservative
advocates of the death penalty or widespread gun ownership; its growth is driven mainly
by the young and the politically disengaged.
Effects of 9/11
The al-Qaeda attacks in September 2001 had a sobering effect on the American people,
with values like acceptance of violence becoming less popular. There has also been a
growth of community involvement and empathy. Happily, xenophobia hasn't grown
significantly. The main effect has been increased regard for authority. But the net shift
toward the survival side of the map has persisted. The author believes that only a major
reversal like the Great Depression of the 1930s can turn America around. In my
opinion, people lacking commitment to society may be energized by a general crisis, but
it's unrealistic to assume they'll move in a progressive direction.
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Gender Distinctions
For every age cohort, females rank higher than males on fulfillment and usually
somewhat higher on authority. In the USA, in every age bracket men are in the survival
half of the map and females in the fulfillment half, except for the 15-20 year group
where both sexes are in the survival half.
Ethnicity
Social values of the three main ethnic groups (white, black and Latino) show various
distinctions in the older generations. But the under-20 cohort of each each group is
similarly located in the individualism-survival quadrant and continues to drift toward the
survival extreme.
Comparing Canada
Several graphs in the earlier book, “Fire and Ice” show Canadian values and trends,
often starkly distinct from the USA. For example, Canadian men and women are both in
the individualistic-fulfillment quadrant. The trend over the generations is toward less
authority and more fulfillment. Canada is becoming more regionally homogeneous,
whereas American regional differences are persistent. Canadians had once fretted over
becoming indistinguishable from the USA; now they can feel a different unease about
the separate course of their powerful, somewhat fearful and increasingly socialDarwinist next-door neighbor.
Comparing Regions
“American Backlash” compares the regions of America (nine total and not including
Hawaii or Alaska). This valuable chapter should be read in detail. Whereas regions
don't range as widely on the social values map as other factors like age, they occupy all
four quadrants. The Mid-Atlantic region leads the country in acceptance of violence.
Centered in the individualism-fulfillment quadrant, New England is more similar to
Canada than to any other region of the USA. This regional comparison belies any
assumption that social problems are concentrated in either red or blue states.
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Conclusion
“American Backlash” identifies a broad trend in American society, and builds a
plausible explanation through data on numerous beliefs, attitudes and behaviors. It
depicts progressive politics losing ground as the American people shift away from social
engagement and toward authoritarian or nihilistic modes. Though it's easy to find
corroborating examples in modern life, the assertion that this is our dominant social
trend is too bleak to accept or dismiss lightly. Michael Adams' book about America's
expanding empty quarter deserves a thoughtful and informed response.
Though it deals with crucial issues for our country, “American Backlash” hasn't received
serious attention in the USA. I encourage you all to read the book, and to promote
acquisition by libraries, review in the press and inclusion on book-club lists.
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