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Two years ago George Lakoff published the bestselling Don't Think of an Elephant! Its account of the conservative monopoly on effective framing touched off a national discussion about political language. It also gave rise to a chorus of pleas for more:
* What is the progressive vision of America;
* Why progressive values are America's values;
* How frames are necessary to serve the truth;
* Why sloganeering alone doesn't work;
* How progressives trap themselves and how they can escape those traps; and
* How political arguments and narratives can be put together to counter the Right.
Thinking Points satisfies that call with a bold, concise, and systematic explanation of how conservatives think and use language―and how progressives can fight back . Lakoff and the Rockridge Institute offer a new understanding of the so-called political center and explain why the most effective way to appeal to those who identify themselves as moderates or conservatives is to remain true to progressive values.
This book is essential reading for anyone who wants to participate in shaping an America that serves the common good.
- Sales Rank: #297103 in Books
- Published on: 2006-10-03
- Released on: 2006-10-03
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 8.50" h x .41" w x 5.50" l, .35 pounds
- Binding: Paperback
- 176 pages
Review
“George Lakoff serves progressives well by explaining how language and moral framing equals power in politics. Thinking Points helps leaders and activists alike to turn this knowledge into a compelling vision for society.” ―John Podesta, CEO and President, Center for American Progress
“Thinking Points is a must read for anyone who doesn't want speaking out to become a dying art.” ―Arianna Huffington
“In Thinking Points, George Lakoff and the Rockridge Institute show how Progressives can stop appealing to some hypothetical "middle" and instead appeal to the deep morality that the vast majority of Americans share. When we speak from our hearts, the integrity of this will speak broadly.” ―Joan Blades, MoveOn
“Lakoff has done it again. In Thinking Points, the good professor and the Rockridge Institute team have connected a broad progressive policy vision to fundamental American values. It's time for progressives to get off defense and go on offense. By laying the foundations of progressive policy in the traditional American values of freedom, responsibility, and care for others, George Lakoff and Rockridge have shown us how. This is the must-read progressive message handbook.” ―Wes Boyd, MoveOn
“In an environment too often dominated by sound-bite arguments and political polarization, Thinking Points is more than a communications tool; it is a must-read for progressives as well as non-partisan activist organizations like the ACLU that want to trumpet their values not only loudly, but effectively. Professor Lakoff's expertise has been invaluable in articulating the ACLU's core values-fundamentally American values-to a broad and politically-diverse audience.” ―Anthony D. Romero, Executive Director, American Civil Liberties Union
“This book is essential reading for anyone who wants to speak out effectively about progressive, American values.” ―Eli Pariser, Executive Director, MoveOn.org Political Action
About the Author
George Lakoff is a professor of linguistics and cognitive science at the University of California, Berkeley, and a founder of the Rockridge Institute. He is the author of Whose Freedom?, Don't Think of an Elephant!, and Moral Politics, as well as seminal books in linguistics, including Metaphors We Live By (with Mark Johnson).
The Rockridge Institute is a team of scholars and researchers committed to American progressive ideals. It provides intellectual support to the progressive community, partnering with advocates, activists, and policy professionals to articulate the system of American values and ideas and reframe public debate.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Chapter One
WINNING AND LOSING
Richard Wirthlin, chief strategist for former president Ronald Reagan, made a discovery in 1980 that profoundly changed American politics. As a pollster, he was taught that people vote for candidates on the basis of the candidates' positions on issues. But his initial polls for Reagan revealed something fascinating: Voters who didn't agree with Reagan on the issues still wanted to vote for him. Mystified, Wirthlin studied the matter further. He discovered just what made people want to vote for Reagan.1
Reagan talked about values rather than issues. Communicating values mattered more than specific policy positions. Reagan connected with people; he communicated well. Reagan also appeared authentic--he seemed to believe what he said. And because he talked about his values, connected with people, and appeared authentic, they felt they could trust him.
For these four reasons--values, connection, authenticity, and trust--voters identified with Reagan; they felt he was one of them. It was not because all of his values matched theirs exactly. It was not because he was from their socioeconomic class or subculture. It was because they believed in the integrity of his connection with them as well as the connection between his worldview and his actions.
Issues are real, as are the facts of the matter. But issues are also symbolic of values and of trustworthiness. Effective campaigns must communicate the candidates' values and use issues symbolically--as indicative of their moral values and their trustworthiness.
Recall Reagan's mythical Cadillac-driving "welfare queen." For Reagan, she represented more than just a case of welfare abuse. She came to symbolize all that was wrong with the government's approach to dealing with poverty, especially a wide array of government "handouts"--programs he thought rewarded laziness, removed the incentive to be disciplined, and promoted immorality.
Whatever we may think of Reagan, this has been a winning formula for conservatives for the past quarter century. Progressives need to learn from it. Politics is about values; it is about communication; it is about voters trusting a candidate to do what is right; it is about believing in, and identifying with, a candidate's worldview. And it is about symbolism.
Issues are secondary--not irrelevant or unimportant, but secondary. A position on issues should follow from one's values, and the choice of issues and policies should symbolize those values.
One misunderstanding, common among progressive circles, is that the Reagan and George W. Bush elections were about "personality" rather than anything substantive. Nothing is more substantive than a candidate's moral worldview--and whether he or she authentically abides by it.
Wirthlin's discovery happened to be about a presidential candidate, but it applies much more broadly. It should be taken to heart by all progressives: Concentrate on values and principles. Be authentic; stand up for what you really believe. Empathize and connect with the people you are talking to, on the basis of identity--their identity and yours.
This book is not about winning and losing elections. It is about winning and losing hearts and minds. This can happen only by helping people discover who they truly are in their heart of hearts.
It is about values and how to communicate them. It is about what a progressive vision is, about what fundamental progressive moral values and principles are, and about how one can articulate them and argue persuasively in favor of them. The secret is effective communication--the use of words and language in the service of our deepest convictions.
Progressives have not only failed to understand Wirthlin's discovery, they have also not understood recent advances in cognitive science, so they continue to fall into a number of traps. These are traps of our own making, however, and we can get out of them without having to change anything about our values.
This is cause for optimism. The purpose of this handbook is to lay out the anatomy of progressive values, ideas, and arguments to free us from traps we have fallen into.
TWELVE TRAPS TO AVOID
1. The Issue Trap. We hear it said all the time: Progressives won't unite behind any set of ideas. We all have different ideas and care about different issues. The truth is that progressives do agree at the level of values and that there is a real basis for progressive unity. Progressive values cut across issues. So do principles and forms of argument. Conservatives argue conservatism, no matter what the issue. Progressives should argue progressivism. We need to get out of issue silos that isolate arguments and keep us from the values and principles that define an overall progressive vision.
2. The Poll Trap. Many progressives slavishly follow polls. The job of leaders is to lead, not follow. Besides, contrary to popular belief, polls in themselves do not present accurate empirical evidence. Polls are only as accurate as the framing of their questions, which is often inadequate. Real leaders don't use polls to find out what positions to take; they lead people to new positions.
3. The Laundry List Trap. Progressives tend to believe that people vote on the basis of lists of programs and policies. In fact, people vote based on values, connection, authenticity, trust, and identity.
4. The Rationalism Trap. There is a commonplace--and false--theory that reason is completely conscious, literal (applies directly to the objective world), logical, universal, and unemotional. Cognitive science has shown that every one of these assumptions is false. These assumptions lead progressives into other traps: assuming that hard facts will persuade voters, that voters are "rational" and vote in their self-interest and on the issues, and that negating a frame is an effective way to argue against it.
5. The No-Framing-Necessary Trap. Progressives often argue that "truth doesn't need to be framed" and that the "facts speak for themselves." People use frames--deep-seated mental structures about how the world works--to understand facts. Frames are in our brains and define our common sense. It is impossible to think or communicate without activating frames, and so which frame is activated is of crucial importance. Truths need to be framed appropriately to be seen as truths. Facts need a context.
6. The Policies-Are-Values Trap. Progressives regularly mistake policies with values, which are ethical ideas like empathy, responsibility, fairness, freedom, justice, and so on. Policies are not themselves values, though they are, or should be, based on values. Thus, Social Security and universal health insurance are not values; they are policies meant to reflect and codify the values of human dignity, the common good, fairness, and equality.
7. The Centrist Trap. There is a common belief that there is an ideological "center"--a large group of voters either with a consistent ideology of their own or lined up left to right on the issues or forming a "mainstream," all with the same positions on issues. In fact, the so-called center is actually made up of biconceptuals, people who are conservative in some aspects of life and progressive in others. Voters who self-identify as "conservative" often have significant progressive values in important areas of life. We should address these "partial progressive" biconceptuals through their progressive identities, which are often systematic and extensive.
A common mistaken ideology has convinced many progressives that they must "move to the right" to get more votes. In reality, this is counterproductive. By moving to the right, progressives actually help activate the right's values and give up on their own. In the process, they also alienate their base.
8. The "Misunderestimating" Trap. Too many progressives think that people who vote conservative are just stupid, especially those who vote against their economic self-interest.
Progressives believe that we only have to tell them the real economic facts, and they will change the way they vote. The reality is that those who vote conservative have their reasons, and we had better understand them. Conservative populism is cultural--not economic--in nature. Conservative populists see themselves as oppressed by elitist liberals who look down their noses at them, when they are just ordinary, moral, right-thinking folks. They see liberals as trying to impose an immoral "political correctness" on them, and they are angry about it.
Progressives also paint conservative leaders as incompetent and not very smart, based on a misunderstanding of the conservative agenda. This results from looking at conservative goals through progressive values. Looking at conservative goals through conservative values yields insight and shows just how effective conservatives really are.2
9. The Reactive Trap. For the most part, we have been letting conservatives frame the debate. Conservatives are taking the initiative on policy making and getting their ideas out to the public. When progressives react, we echo the conservative frames and values, so our message is not heard or, even worse, reinforces their ideas. Progressives need a collection of proactive policies and communication techniques to get our own values out on our own terms. "War rooms" and "truth squads" must change frames, not reinforce conservative frames. But even then, they are not nearly enough. Progressive leaders, outside of any party, must come together in an ongoing, long-term, organized national campaign that honestly conveys progressive values to the public--day after day, week after week, year after year, no matter what the specific issues of the day are.
10. The Spin Trap. Some progressives believe that winning elections or getting public support is a matter of clever spin and catchy...
Most helpful customer reviews
39 of 39 people found the following review helpful.
Another excellent book by George Lakoff and The Rockridge Inststute
By BP Show
As are all their books, Thinking Points; Communicating Our American Values and Vision by George Lakoff isn't disappointing. Well written and easy for anyone to read and understand, Dr Lakoff reiterates the differences between Conservatives and Progressives; "The Strict Father" model and "The Nurturant Parent" model, and why these differences are at such odds in our political system today.
Point by point, examples are given as to how each ideology defines words, and frames it's messages. How metaphors are used with soundbites, un-truths and spin, Dr Lakoff once again shows us how the right-wing conservative agenda has joined with the fundementalist base of the religious right to slowly erode traditional Progressive American "values" and civil rights in the name of their new Conservative "values package".
My hopes still are that more Progressive Democratic and Republican politicians and candidates will read the information Dr Lakoff and The Rockridge Institute have been working so hard to get out to us. I also hope all Progressives will read this book and be better able to understand what we actually stand for and how to speak out together in unison to keep freedom and peace alive in America.
26 of 26 people found the following review helpful.
The Meta-Politics Primer
By J. Van Meter
Lakoff and the Institute take their reader through just about every major political debate, explaining how deep framing affects surface framing on each and how both progressive and conservative frames understand the deeper issues behind the policy debates - issues like self-reliance, common good and the morality of property ownership. They then show how to frame progressive arguments in ways that conservatives and biconceptuals (moderates) can easily access and in ways that they can relate to and agree with, while still remaining authentically progressive. He then makes one final point - that framing has to be repeated, time and again and across the board, until it becomes as pervasive and automatic as the conservative narrative has been, and then more so.
In 156 easily accessible pages, Lakoff sets the standard upon which all future discussion of the deep cognitive nature of political debate - the meta-politics - will be based. As such, I heartily recommend that you go buy this book. It is a must read.
29 of 32 people found the following review helpful.
Recycling Points
By doomsdayer520
George Lakoff's insights into political rhetoric have been brilliant, and his explanations for conservative rhetorical victories and the resulting failures by progressives are right on the money. Unfortunately, Lakoff made his most insightful points long ago, and this particular book is unrewarding for anyone who has read at least one of his previous books on the general topic of linguistics in American politics. I'm a great fan of Lakoff's work in this area, being introduced to it via "Don't Think of an Elephant" which I found revelatory, while I was also impressed with the more specific but somewhat repetitive "Whose Freedom." Those two books, plus the earlier "Moral Politics," are merely summarized into handbook form here, with a new quick-hitting format that might be useful for progressive strategists in the future but is a disappointment for anyone hoping for new insights from Lakoff. There is even a fair amount of repeated text within this short book itself.
When an author releases a new book, it's supposed to signify that he has created something new. But the only substantive new material in this book is found in Chapter 2, in which Lakoff expands upon the theory of "biconceptuals" in political thought and defeats the myth of a moderate center. But otherwise, most of the rest of the book consists of repeats of Lakoff's previous works condensed into soundbite form, as indicated by the frequent instructions for the reader to consult those three earlier books for more information. Meanwhile, an incongruous detour into policy idealism wrecks Chapter 7 - "Strategic Initiatives" that turn out to be political reactions of the type that Lakoff strongly disdains in all his other writings. Fundamentally, while Lakoff's insights remain useful, here he merely preaches yet again to the choir that is familiar with his earlier groundbreaking work. With his now-proven penchant for repeating his basic ideas in multiple books, it appears that Lakoff has said all he can say on progressive rhetorical political strategies. His breakthroughs will advance no further until progressive politicians and activists make real use of his ideas. Repeating all of the above in more books won't make that happen. [~doomsdayer520~]
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