The Tribes

In his New York Times column this morning David Brooks talks about a new report, “The Hidden Tribes”, from the organization More In Common:

Every few years one research group or another produces a typology of the electorate. The researchers conduct thousands of interviews and identify the different clusters American voters fall into.

More in Common has just completed a large such typology. It’s one of the best I’ve seen because it understands that American politics is no longer about what health care plan you support. It’s about identity, psychology, moral foundations and the dynamics of tribal resentment.

The report, “Hidden Tribes,” breaks Americans into seven groups, from left to right, with names like Traditional Liberals, Moderates, Politically Disengaged and so on. It won’t surprise you to learn that the most active groups are on the extremes — Progressive Activists on the left (8 percent of Americans) and Devoted Conservatives on the right (6 percent).

These two groups are the richest of all the groups. They are the whitest of the groups. Their members have among the highest education levels, and they report high levels of personal security.

The seven groups identified in the report are:

• Progressive Activists (8%)
• Traditional Liberals (11%)
• Passive Liberals (15%)
• Politically Disengaged (26%)
• Moderates (15%)
• Traditional Conservatives (19%)
• Devoted Conservatives (6%)

I read the whole report, found it interesting and engaging, and it brought forth a number of observations on my part. The first was unsurprising to me and shouldn’t surprise anyone who reads much at The Glittering Eye: I don’t fit neatly into any of those “tribes”. I am empirical and rational in my approach not ideological. In varying degrees I fit into Moderate, Politically Disengaged, Passive Liberal, or Traditional Liberal but neither Progressive Activist nor Devoted Conservative.

Second, the report distinguishes between “the Wings” and “the Exhausted Majority”.

Third, consider these two graphs sampled from the report:

I have taken the liberty of highlighting Progressive Activists on each graph. What do you notice about them?

Here’s a similar graph on which I’ve highlighted Devoted Conservatives:

Keep in mind that the “chattering classes”—people in journalism, entertainers, college professors and the like—are overrepresented in among Progressive Activists.

We are not nearly as divided as some would like to imagine. There is actually considerable agreement. There is a very noisy, wealthy, small, and predominantly white minority trying to convince us that we’re divided.