Lakoff is a cognitive scientist, studying the way the mind works in regards to language. In Moral Politics, he takes his background in cognitive science and applies it to American politics, anaylsing the way that liberals and conservatives use language to talk about the issues that matter to them to come up with a coherent, well thought out theory about why liberals and conservatives think the way they think and why they believe what they do. According to Lakoff’s theory, for which he offers extensive supporting evidence based on his own research and observations of mainstream political discourse, liberal and conservative politics are based on two inherently, drastically different world views, each stemming from a different ideological model of the ideal family structure, then extending the model of the family to apply to the nation as a family. The two different family ideologies, combined with the nation-as-family conception, produce the full range of liberal and conservative political positions. Lakoff’s model explains, for example, what conservative opposition to environmentalism has to do with conservative opposition to gun control and to the minimum wage.

One of Lakoff’s greatest strengths, in my opinion, is that he is very clear in stating his bias from the outset. He makes no attempt to hide the fact that he considers himself a political liberal. That said, as a scientist, most of his book is written in a very nonbiased manner. The book has six parts. Five are written in a nonbiased, straightforward, scientific sort of way. The final part is where Lakoff addresses his fellow liberals with advice on how to apply the newfound knowledge of the subconscious roots of American politics to reframe debates and be generally more successful in politics than liberals in recent years have been.

However, don’t let the fact that Lakoff is liberal and includes a chapter specifically directed at liberals stop you from reading the book. As I said, the first five parts are worth reading on their own. To any conservative who might brush aside Lakoff as a scientist on the basis of Lakoff as a political being, I would challenge you to read the book so we could hold an informed debate. Read the last section too, so you can inform yourself about what liberal scholars and activists are going to try to start doing, to better prepare yourself to meet us in informed debate.

Contrary to the other entry about this book here, it isn’t written in a poor manner at all, it just reads like a textbook. Lakoff makes the same points over and over, repeats concepts central to his theories, and uses many examples to explain things – it reads like a textbook. His writing style in Moral Politics is very similar to the style of Metaphors We Live By – textbookish.

Recommended for anyone with an interest in either cognitive science or linguistics, or anyone seeking a better understanding of American politics.