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Joined: 01/16/09
Posts: 14234
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http://www.amazon.com/Don...ogressives/dp/1931498822http://www.amazon.com/Pol...id=1265494985&sr=1-3Lakoff is perhaps the foremost linguist and cognitive scientist
working in the realm of political speech and this iteration of "The
Political Mind" follows on the heels of his 2008 book "The Political
Mind: You Can't Understand 21st Century American Politics with an 18th
Century Brain" as well as "Framing the Debate" (2007), "Thinking
Points" (2006) and "Don't Think of an Elephant" (2004), all of which
focus on how politicians employ language to frame their arguments. For
a layperson the idea of reading a book on linguistics and cognitive
science sounds daunting, but Lakoff is a master at making the material
easy to understand while not dumbing things down. The main idea Lakoff
puts forward is that reason is mostly unconscious and challenges the
conventional wisdom of many political scientists, political theorists,
policy makers and other scholars regarding how to frame issues for the
electorate. The key problem for those parties, to Lakoff's theory, is
that they fail to grasp the biological explanations that drive the
electorate's thought processes. Lakoff frequently points to the
successes Republicans have had in framing issues through narratives
when presenting ideas to the electorate rather than presenting raw
facts, statistics and data which largely leave voters to frame the
issue in their own minds. The net result is voters understand the
narratives presented by Republicans to frame the argument. Failure to
frame the information presented results in widely varying degrees of
comprehension and mixed messages or in some cases the "paralysis of
analysis." This is perhaps the argument that is of most value to
political scientists, theorists, and policy makers but potentially the
hardest for some to embrace as it runs counter to long-held beliefs.
"The Political Mind" is indeed a thought provoking book and it
abounds with ideas and concepts relating to political theory. Lakoff's
arguments are relatively simple, straightforward, and easy to grasp,
but written in a prose that will certainly appeal to the reader and
their intellect. The decidedly retro cover may be a bit offputting with
its 1970s graphic, but don't let that fool you; "The Political Mind" is
a must read for anyone in the political world!
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