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Key points
- PM Keir Starmer's attire, wearing military fatigues while visiting troops, sparked diverse reactions.
- Signaling affinity with the military can evoke morals that are usually more popular amongst conservatives.
- Moral foundations theory (MFT) proposes that human morality is based on core principles like authority.
The leader of the British Labour Party, Sir Keir Starmer, made headlines in the U.K. last week when he was pictured wearing military fatigues. Journalistic commentary on his choice of clothing ranged from the supportive to the derisory, with some being reminded of the late Margaret Thatcher, others of Gareth from the U.K. comedy series The Office (a character who became Dwight Schrute in the U.S. version of the series).
Your gut feeling might suggest that Starmer's choice of clothing was somehow centered on courting voters. It might even be intuitive that this was positioned toward gaining supporters from the right wing. One psychological mechanism that explains why this would be the case is that of moral foundations theory (MFT).
The theory posits that human morality can be reduced to several vital moral foundations. This number was originally five, with a potential sixth in the case of Libertarian-distinguishing Liberty. More recently, the list has been updated to seven.
The theory's most common application is to political groups: individuals on the left tend to score highly on two moral foundations: care and fairness. Individuals on the right can score highly on those two and the other three of in-group loyalty, sanctity, and respect for authority.
Broadly speaking, this difference between groups is why you commonly hear voices from the left concerned with healthcare (consider typical discourse on the British NHS, or "Obamacare"), while those on the right will voice concerns about tradition.
Those from the left are likelier to want to see the statues fall out of a sense of fairness and justice. At the same time, those on the right are likelier to want to see them remain standing out of a sense of respect for authority, in-group loyalty, and in some cases, sanctity.
By donning his military fatigues, Starmer is signaling to conservatives that he also values the military and what it can represent in terms of protecting the nation and in-group from foes and preserving its sanctity.
Successful reframing of traditional concerns of the left in right-laden wording, and vice-versa, has been reported on issues such as fiscal policy and immigration. Others have reported on the skillful use of moral reframing that politicians appear to have used, including former President Donald Trump. Starmer's polling supports the idea that his appeals to the right, which are not limited to fashion, are working.
