Economic Interests
People’s economic interests today vary widely, and they constitute a source of con-
fl ict in politics. In contrast, relative economic equality characterized our nation’s
early history—at least among white men, since small landowners, businessmen,
craftsmen, and their families were a majority of the population. Over time our
nation became more stratifi ed by class, to the point that the United States now
ranks about 91 among the world’s 194 countries in terms of income equality.^9 How-
ever, a commitment to the free market and economic individualism remains
central to our national identity.
Today there are important diff erences among American citizens, interest
groups, and political parties in terms of their economic interests and favored
economic policies. Democratic politicians and activists tend to favor more
redistributive tax policies and social spending on programs for the poor.
Democrats are also inclined to regulate industry to protect the environment and
worker and product safety, but they favor fewer restrictions on individual behav-
ior. Republicans prefer lower taxes and less spending on social policies. They are
more supportive than Democrats of the free market and less inclined to interfere
w it h business interests, a lt houg h ma ny Republica ns favor reg u lation of indiv idua l
behaviors such as abortion rights and gay marriage.
Cultural Values
Another source of confl ict is diff ering cultural values. For example, political ana-
lysts often focus attention on the culture wars in the United States between
“ red-state” Americans, who tend to have strong religious beliefs, and “blue-state”
Americans, who tend to be more secular. (The color coding of the states comes
from the election-night maps on television that show the states carried by Repub-
lican candidates in red and those won by Democrats in blue.)
There is no doubt that many Americans disagree on cultural and moral issues.
These include the broad category of “family values” (such as whether and how
to regulate pornography, gambling, and media obscenity and violence); whether
to supplement the teaching of evolution in public schools with the perspectives
free market An economic system
based on competition among
businesses without government
interference.economic individualism The
autonomy of individuals to manage
their own fi nancial decisions with-
out government interference.redistributive tax policies
Policies, generally favored by
Democratic politicians, that use
taxation to attempt to create greater
social equality (i.e., higher taxation
of the rich to provide programs for
the poor).culture wars Political confl ict in
the United States between “red-
state” Americans, who tend to
have strong religious beliefs, and
“blue-state” Americans, who tend to
be more secular.ECONOMIC INEQUALITY HAS LONG
been a source of political confl ict,
but in recent years an increasing
gap between rich and poor has
heightened disagreements about
what—if anything—government
should do about it. The Occupy
movement drew attention to the
issue starting in 2011.SOURCES OF CONFLICT IN AMERICAN POLITICS | 15