In What's the Matter with Kansas? Thomas Frank pointed out that a great number of Americans actually vote against their own interests. In The Political Mind, George Lakoff explains why.
As it turns out, human beings are not the rational creatures we've so long imagined ourselves to be. Ideas, morals, and values do not exist somewhere outside the body, ready to be examined and put to use. Instead, they exist quite literally inside the brain—and they take physical shape there. For example, we form particular kinds of narratives in our minds just like we form specific muscle memories such as typing or dancing, and then we fit new information into those narratives. Getting that information out of one narrative type and into another—or building a whole new narrative altogether—can be as hard as learning to play the banjo. Changing your mind isn't like changing your body—it's the same thing.
But as long as progressive politicians and activists persist in believing that people use an objective system of reasoning to decide on their politics, the Democrats will continue to lose elections. They must wrest control of the terms of the debate from their opponents rather than accepting their frame and trying to argue within it.
This passionate, erudite, and groundbreaking book will appeal to readers of Steven Pinker and Thomas Frank. It is a fascinating read for anyone interested in how the mind works, how society works, and how they work together.
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"This book begins at the neuro level of the brain and then works its way out to political discourse. Written by a linguist who studies the inner-workings of the brain, The Political Mind provides insight as to how framing a conversation can really change the course of history. "
— Gwen (5 out of 5 stars)
Kent Cassella gives an appropriately somber reading of this scholarly material.
— Library Journal Audio Review“Unyielding, provocative, ambitious…filled with fascinating scientific research, is apt to find a receptive audience among citizens who hunger for a new progressive renaissance.”
— San Francisco Chronicle“The author masterfully makes his research comprehensible to nonspecialists. His conclusion—that if citizens and policy-makers better understand brain functioning, hope exists to ameliorate global warming and other societal disasters in the making—will be of vital importance and interest to all readers.”
— Publishers Weekly" This book blew my mind. For the first time in forty years that I finally understand why the American people have been so bamboozled. <br/>This is a must READ for every progressive thinking person in the USA; probably England too. "
— William, 2/26/2011" "If you believe in the 18th century view of the mind, you will look and act wimpy. You will think that all you need to do is give people the right gacts and figures and they will recah the right conclusion." -- sound about right. "
— Ruger, 1/30/2011" I read it, I agree with the premise. BUT, I do believe very few of the voters who need to understand this concept will ever read this book. My only hope that it will be at all beneficial is if a few of the policians would read it and modify their campaigns accordingly. "
— Vicki, 10/3/2010" great audio book, unabridged. interesting ideas, need to learn more about linguistics and cognitive neuroscience. metaphors give us frames...narratives are key "
— Jose, 5/29/2010" I thought this book was terrific in explaining the differences between thought patterns and meaning that people assign to the same experience or words. "
— Mark, 1/10/2010George Lakoff is an American cognitive linguist best known for his thesis that lives of individuals are influenced by the central metaphors used to explain complex phenomena. He has written several works on mathematics, politics, and language, including Metaphors We Live By, which introduced his metaphor thesis. He is a professor of linguistics at the University of California, Berkeley, where he has taught since 1972.
Kent Cassella is an actor who divides his time between Vermont and New York. Television and film credits include all of the Law & Order franchise shows, FX’s Rescue Me, Showtime’s Brotherhood, and the Ben Affleck film The Town.