Empathy and Politics

It is the duty of elected officials to create policies that are in the best interest of the citizens of the state. In order to act in this accord, elected officials must possess a certain amount of empathy for the citizenry in order to be in tune with their current attitudes, and desires as to the state of the country and how to make it a better place. However, often times, a partisan agenda ands loyalty to constituents over the general public can pervert good intentions and an unbiased empathy in favor of political action which only benefits few (and sometimes even harms most).

In my research project, I intend to discover the ways in which empathy plays a role in political socialization of the citizenry, the actions and conduct of political officials, and potentially even within a broader context of how political categorization has altered the mindset of the modern day citizen as they designate a political in-group and out-group instead of simply identifying all citizens regardless of political creed as united under the same flag.

Works Cited:

• BLOOM, PAUL. AGAINST EMPATHY: the Case for Rational Compassion. VINTAGE, 2018.

• Loewen, Peter John , Cochrane, Christopher  , Arsenault, Gabriel , “Empathy and Political Preferenes” (2017): 39. www.princeton.edu.web. 6, November, 2017.

• Laber-Warren, Emily. “Unconscious Reactions Separate Liberals and Conservatives.” Scientific American,1Sept.2012,www.scientificamerican.com/article/calling-truce-political-wars/.

• Stewart, Jon. “Final Speech at Rally to Restore Sanity”, Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear, October 30, 2010, National Mall, Washington DC