In What’s The Matter With Kansas? , Thomas Frank found the ghost of Friedrich Engels haunting the Great Plains. The author of the 2004 bestseller argued that by voting Republican, and therefore against redistribution, poor Kansans had a case of false consciousness. Democrats were soothed by the idea put forward by Frank that, for the working class, re-electing President George W Bush was a form of masochism, and that their party simply had to make these people realise that voting for them was in their own interest.
在《堪萨斯怎么了？》(What’s The Matter With Kansas? )一书中，托马斯•弗兰克(Thomas Frank)发现了弗里德里希•恩格斯(Friedrich Engels)的幽灵在美国大平原(Great Plains)上游荡。弗兰克在这本于2004年出版的畅销书中辩称，通过投票支持共和党人，从而反对再分配，可怜的堪萨斯人犯了思想上的错误。民主党人对弗兰克的以下观点感到欣慰：对工人阶级来说，让小布什(George W Bush)连任总统是某种形式的受虐狂，而民主党只要让这些人认识到，投票支持民主党符合他们自身的利益。
Today, Frank’s question could be rephrased “What’s The Matter With Clacton?” or “Quel est le problème avec Fréjus?”, to pick two European areas where populist parties have flourished. The UK Independence party and, in France, the National Front, are also seen as duping the white working class with their populist appeal.
如今，就欧洲两个民粹主义政党蓬勃发展的地区来说，弗兰克的问题可以被改写为“克拉克顿怎么了？”或者“弗雷瑞斯怎么了？”。英国独立党和法国的国民阵线(National Front)也被视为利用民粹主义诉求来欺骗白人工人阶级。
Some political psychologists believe the workings of the mind, rather than political false consciousness, best explain this. In The Political Brain , Drew Westen argued Republicans are better than Democrats at appealing to emotion, which is more important than reason in swaying voters. Jonathan Haidt’s The Righteous Mind suggested lefties and conservatives evolve fundamentally different moral instincts and values.
一些政治心理学家相信，用思维方式、而非政治上的错误思想可以对这种现象做出最佳解释。德鲁•韦斯滕(Drew Westen)在《政治头脑》(The Political Brain)一书中辩称，共和党人比民主党人更擅长煽情，而在吸引选民方面，感情比理智更重要。乔纳森•海德特(Jonathan Haidt)在《正直的心灵》(The Righteous Mind)一书中提出，左派和保守派进化出了截然不同的道德本能和价值观。