FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 10, 2009
New Book Predicts Increasing Partisan Polarization Worldwide
Humans are Hard-Wired for "Political Irrationality" says SUNY Professor Guillermo C. Jimenez. Partisan Bias is Rooted in Biology and Reinforced by Culture.
The Result is an Angry and Polarized Electorate, Exploited by Self-Serving Politicians.
The Result is an Angry and Polarized Electorate, Exploited by Self-Serving Politicians.
NEW YORK, NY, June 10, 2009 -- "Post-partisanship is currently biologically and culturally impossible," SUNY Professor Guillermo C. Jimenez said in a statement released in New York today to accompany the release of his new book, "Red Genes, Blue Genes: Exposing Political Irrationality."
"President Barack Obama is right to attack irrational partisanship," said Jimenez, "But partisanship is likely to persist anyway because human beings have innate partisan predispositions which are aggravated in times of economic stress." According to Jimenez, most people are genetically-predisposed toward liberalism or conservatism, and this innate bias is further reinforced by years of cultural programming. Jimenez said that since the syndrome is based on biological and cultural universals, it is found in all countries.
"People everywhere are incredibly stubborn and opinionated when it comes to politics, but their opinions are almost never based on logic or facts," Jimenez said in the statement, which is posted on the book's companion blog-site, redgenesbluegenes.com.
Red Genes, Blue Genes argues that society's most troublesome political problems can be traced to an innate human tendency toward "political irrationality." Using recent scientific evidence from psychology,neuroscience and economics, Jimenez's book seeks to provide the first comprehensive and multi-disciplinary look at political irrationality. Jimenez said the concept of political irrationality helped explain a number of current events and controversies, for example: 1) Irrational Democratic triumphalism after Obama's 2008 victory; 2) The irrationalities underlying the current financial crisis; 3) Irrational U.S. over-confidence in Afghanistan and Iraq; 4) Continued government support of irrational drug policies, and 5) Irrational denial of judicial bias, as in the case of judges nominated to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Jimenez said that his purpose in writing Red Genes, Blue Genes: Exposing Political Irrationality was to make use of modern science in order to unravel ancient political mysteries:
Why does it seem that liberals and conservatives are different kinds of people? Why are political arguments so hostile and impervious to reason? Why are partisans and political figures so certain they are right all the time? Why are citizens everywhere unsatisfied with systems of government that are supposedly "democratic"?
Why does it seem that liberals and conservatives are different kinds of people? Why are political arguments so hostile and impervious to reason? Why are partisans and political figures so certain they are right all the time? Why are citizens everywhere unsatisfied with systems of government that are supposedly "democratic"?
Guillermo C. Jimenez teaches international law and business at the State University of New York (SUNY), Iona College and the International School of Management (Paris). A graduate of Harvard University and the University of California-Berkeley, he has lectured in over 35 countries and addressed a number of international organizations and bodies including the United Nations and European Commission. Red Genes, Blue Genes: Exposing Political Irrationality is his fourth book.
For additional information about Red Genes, Blue Genes: Exposing Political Irrationality, to set up interviews with the author or receive review copies, please visit the book's companion blog-site at
For additional information about Red Genes, Blue Genes: Exposing Political Irrationality, to set up interviews with the author or receive review copies, please visit the book's companion blog-site at
www.redgenesbluegenes.com
and/or contact Ms. Yuliya Shapirshteyn, publicity@redgenesbluegenes.com (718 387 6471).
Book Details:
Book Title: Red Genes, Blue Genes: Exposing Political Irrationality
Book Details:
Book Title: Red Genes, Blue Genes: Exposing Political Irrationality
Author: Guillermo C. Jimenez
ISBN: 978-1-57027-203-5
Cover price: 16.95 USD
Dimensions: Trade paperback (6" x 9"), 304 pp.
Pub. Date Nov. 4, 2009
Review materials available at: www.redgenesbluegenes.com
To order books directly from publisher, contact Jim Fleming, Autonomedia, P.O.B. 568 Williamsburgh Station, Brooklyn, New York 11211-0568, tel. (718) 387 6471, info@autonomedia.org
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