The power of elitist narratives (1)
The highly worrisome turn of events on the home front and abroad has presented several confusing narratives, explaining why these have happened, and inevitably justifying certain narratives over others.
But how do narratives shape our attitudes and thinking about certain government policies and actions, including the choices we make as voters and constituents who contribute to the national coffers through the taxes we pay at every turn of our lives? Even in death, we still have to pay taxes, except that our survivors do it for us, if and when they can.
Economic behavior has always been portrayed as a result of logical behavior or action. We were taught that we have to choose the best product at the least cost (which economists define as efficiency), and those that have shown they can address our needs (the effectiveness of the product chosen to be purchased).
Political behavior, especially related to decisions we make at the polling places, cannot be explained in the same way. Criteria for both efficiency and effectiveness do not work in elections. Instead, we tend to follow and vote for certain candidates who we believe share the same narratives we believe in, however rational or logical they are. And we have seen this unfolding in many of the events, not only in the Philippines, but also in several other crisis-laden countries around the world.
Prof. Randall Holcombe (Florida State University) explained this in his peer-reviewed article published in the Journal of Government and Economics (Elsevier, Autumn, 2021). Holcombe cites the work of Italian polymath Vilfredo Pareto (1848 to 1923), among others. Pareto was a polymath—someone who has extensive knowledge and expertise in various fields, usually crossing disciplinary boundaries between the sciences and the arts. Pareto was an Italian scholar who was an expert in the fields of engineering and sociology.
In one of his works, Pareto distinguishes between logical and nonlogical actions or behavior. Logical action is based on the perceived outcome of a decision or action that conforms to the achievement of logical ends, like efficiency and effectiveness. People make their economic decisions based on rationality, getting more for less, or getting the most effective product for their hard-earned money. Nonlogical actions or behavior explain that many of our social behaviors are not based on logical reasoning, but rather on mindsets we have chosen to adopt, based on many nonmonetary behavior patterns and beliefs.
Holcombe explains that nonlogical actions are the result of a confluence of several factors, usually driven by elites who peddle narratives of protecting the common good and of envisioning an imagined future for the common people, especially the impoverished.
Voting behavior is expressed not because of a rational decision to choose efficiency and effectiveness. One’s vote does not translate into an immediate outcome that can address a voter’s poverty in a timely manner. It also cannot lead to the enhancement of basic social services that remain unheard of in many rural, impoverished communities. This is why a rational decision is not what drives one’s voting preference.
Political elites have long demonstrated their power to shape public opinion. Currently, political elites are also supported by their own armies of almost fanatical motley groups that further promote their narratives as ”gospel truth” to those whose learning is only based on populist social media platforms like TikTok.
Elites have the critical advantage of access and financial leverage to fund trolls and other social media “influencers” to create a barrage of highly curated information that can shape public policy. Such information can even lead to normalizing aberrant or socially unacceptable behavior, like that displayed by some of our elected officials, both past and present.
Voters thus express their preferences for candidates whose party or ideology and preferences are anchored on frameworks defined by political elites they trust or believe in, rightly or wrongly. For instance, it was the “Making America Great Again” slogan that created a groundswell of support for Donald J. Trump’s new mandate as a “comeback” president of the United States in the 2024 presidential elections.
Such a massive campaign built on this powerful slogan made ordinary Americans believe in this mantra, creating a feeling of superiority over other countries, something that has been ingrained in many Americans, especially those who are among the least educated. The rhetoric cultivated ordinary Americans’ feelings of superiority over other non-white Americans who have migrated to the US in search of greener pastures.
(To be continued.)
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