A small but active cottage industry has sprung up to explore the genetic bases of political attitudes and behavior. Studies of “genopolitics,” as the field has come to be called, are much more likely than conventional political science to turn up in Science or The New York Times Magazine. After all, unlike much of what we do, they look like real science, especially from a distance. But what will work of this sort really add to our understanding of politics? My own guess is, not much.
My argument is not that genetic explanations of political attitudes and behavior are infeasible (though they are sure to be extremely difficult to achieve) or illegitimate (though it is easy to imagine them being harnessed to unsavory political ends). It is simply that the real scientific payoff does not look worth the effort.
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Read the full, original story here: Your genes influence your political views. So what?
