Why Poor and Why Rich: International Surveys Validate Attribution Theory

This research seeks to test whether the trends in political message processing noted by George Lakoff are culture-specific to the U. S. or if such processing of political messages is a more universal phenomenon. Specifically the researcher conducts a secondary analysis of four large international polls and one national poll, the Polish General Social Survey. The polls all featured questions about why others are poor or wealthy. All these polls also asked questions about political philosophy, liberal to conservative. If the Lakoff points “travel well,” then political conservatives, true to Attribution Theory, will see both poverty and wealth as a consequence of individual traits. Political liberals would point to social conditions for both wealth and poverty.