15
earlier). Disciplinarians may start from different assumptions about the nature of humanity, the
universe, and morality, but that does not mean that they are not well-intentioned (just as parents
who subscribe to the nurturance model do not necessarily “let their children control them,” as
some might assert). Furthermore, as already mentioned briefly, Lakoff’s predictions about
individual family values do not depend on an individual’s personal upbringing. Rather, the key
explanatory variable has to do with how a person believes children should be raised. To be sure,
such beliefs may often correspond to one’s own experience. But to reiterate a point we made
earlier, many children do not embrace the model of family life that their parents provide. Of
course, pursuing an understanding of why some people follow their parents’ example while others
do not is clearly beyond the scope of this paper. For our purposes, it is sufficient that our models
distinguish between the theory put forward by Lakoff and those found in the authoritarian
literature, by controlling for authoritarian attitudes such as dogmatism and moral intolerance.
In addition to authoritarianism, a somewhat related set of attitudes may provide another
explanation of the relationships Lakoff describes. Perhaps general antipathy toward out-groups by
those seeking to maintain their privileged status in the social and economic order explains both
strict discipline at home (so children do not threaten the parent’s privileged status) and opposition
to any policy that would threaten that privileged status. Such a predisposition would predict
resistance to policies designed to help the working class, minorities, women, gays, criminal
defendants, immigrants, or anyone else who might threaten the cultural dominance that white
males have always enjoyed in American society (see Sidanius and Pratto 1999). It would also
predict opposition to any policy that might appear to threaten the hegemony of the United States.
Such out-group hostility is likely to be captured to a significant extent in expressions of bigotry,
which we must measure and control for in our models.
Finally, we need to consider whether the hypothesized relationship between family values
and political attitudes may be explained by differences in sophistication. After all, political
sophistication is empirically correlated with both nurturant family values and liberal attitudes
Convention