If I told you that neighborhoods cause people to develop diabetes, would you believe me? And would that make you more or less willing to see your tax dollars spent researching ways to treat and prevent diabetes?
That is essentially the question my colleagues and I posed to a wide swath of Americans, and a question, we discovered, that polarizes people along political party lines.
What do I mean when I say that neighborhoods can cause diabetes? Well, social scientists have linked neighborhoods to disease. People living, for example, in neighborhoods with poor sidewalk access end up walking less than people in other kinds of neighborhoods, thereby gaining weight and developing diabetes. By a similar token, if a neighborhood is too dangerous for people to exercise outdoors, people become more sedentary and, voila, diabetes predictably ensues in a subset of the population. What's more, some neighborhoods have a terrible supply of grocery stores -- people living in such neighborhoods can easily avail themselves of fast food restaurants, but can't necessarily find fresh produce.
Often when people learn that forces beyond individual control contribute to illness, they become more supportive of public funding to combat those illnesses. In fact, in our study we provided a random subset of research participants with a news story explaining that diabetes is caused by genetics (this is true, by the way -- genes do contribute to diabetes.) People reading this news story -- whether Republican or Democrat -- became more supportive of spending public funds to treat and prevent diabetes.
Then we gave another subset of participants a different news story. This one explained that diabetes is caused by neighborhoods. Once again, hearing about the forces that contribute to diabetes made Democrats more interested in spending money on diabetes research. But the Republicans who read this news story weren't persuaded; in fact, they became less willing to use tax money to tackle the diabetes epidemic.
It is easy to believe that our country is politically polarized simply because people have gravitated toward partisan media outlets. Watch Fox news and you will hear about Tea Party demonstrations; watch MSNBC and you will hear about Gay Rights demonstrations. No surprise that when people receive imbalanced information, they end up with polarized attitudes.
However, our study shows that our nation's political divisions run much deeper than the Glenn Beck/Keith Olbermann divide. In our study, Republicans and Democrats came to starkly different opinions from each other even after receiving identical information about the cause of diabetes. Hearing about neighborhood effects on diabetes brought out compassion among Democrats, but not so much among Republicans. As some of my Republican friends tell me when I talk to them about neighborhoods and illness: "The neighborhood doesn't force people to eat at McDonalds. Even if a neighborhood is dangerous, people can do Pilates in their living rooms if they're motivated."
True enough. Human behavior is ultimately the main cause of diabetes. But no person's behavior is completely under their own control. Social forces can influence people's behavior -- the kinds of social forces that differ across neighborhoods, for example. Sadly, when people think about these other forces, some are more convinced than others, and these divisions run across predictable party lines.
To reduce partisanship in this country, we need to educate more people about the complexity of human nature. I wonder if the 24 hour news channels will find the time to do that!
Our study, led by Sarah Gollust, was published in the October issue of the American Journal of Public Health.
My most recent book is Free Market Madness. Read more of my blogs here.
Americans used to care about all Americans. The right wing has been extremely successful in convincing the rich and powerful that the poor and powerless are none of their concern. I think it's been accomplished with the immigration propaganda over at Fox News.
People have PhDs in have to manipulate people. What Freud started to heal broken hearts has now morphed from advertising's brilliance at creating urgent need in every grocery store and now into incredibly artful political propaganda.
How many adults are on mood altering drugs now?
It's understandable when a lay person makes this mistake. However, it is rather odd when a medical professional does so. It makes whatever else he or she may have to say suspect.
Sadly probably not, it would require critical journalistic research and some thought of the part of viewers, perhaps it could be on 'The News Hour' on PBS, but sadly the ones that would need to see it, won't.
I am anglophone.
with paid government 'types'...
incessant, friendly, yet not over-friendly neighbours...
who are placed in a neighbourhood to gently
break the barriers that seem to tie us to our homes...
we ALL want to get out...
we ALL want to be friendly...
we ALL want to be fit...
I won't say the word conspiracy...
they don't like it in these part...
but I have fought back...
and go out by myself.
In short is it diet or environment and did you control for the variables.
The Authors study was about people's attitudes toward....and relative level of compassion FOR diabetes sufferers.....when given differing news stories.
In short, did you read the piece?
tm
good points....
Re: "stigma"
I Clearly remember as a small child,
My mother's ire at people who didn't have the courtesy to "cup" their (lit!) ciggarettes in hand
When entering a crowded elevator....
So as not to burn the clothing of others or the ears of small children
(in this case, Me)..........
IMAGINE!
"
regards
tm
And you can apply that to just about every study about human nature that has ever been done.
They may receive the same specific information about diabetes and neighborhood, but they filter it through their racial animus.
It's stunning how people can point to personal responsibility as the answer to every problem that faces us. Hopefully, in time, more people will come to understand that our choices impact one another. Maybe they'll even grow to be compassionate towards others and grateful for the opportunities they've been provided.
Keep educating people.
Let's just say...if we werent poor when I was a kid then we were very, VERY, working class.
Highly processed foods were simply not affordable..and fast food was a "special treat".
To this day the taste of "instant" mashed potatoes, or a McDonald's hamburger conjures memories of trips to distant sburban relatives homes.
regards
tm