The Campaign Company specialises in social research and behaviour change. This is your guide to what we’ve been reading. Here’s what’s coming up this week:
Hello and welcome to the TCC Weekly – the Friday bulletin for people who know their covfefe from their mugwump.
This week we bring you a real treat in our Values Lab, with exclusive values-based analysis of this election, for the eyes of TCC Weekly readers only (but please pass it on!). It’s based on a poll undertaken by our partners Cultural Dynamics and TCC at the start of May, and includes the values breakdown of the Remain and Leave tribes.
We also look at urban resilience, and why charisma in politics is so last year. And while we’re on those two topics, we of course bring you the pot pourri with that slightly troubling odour that is Charlie’s attic.
David Evans
Director
If you see a link that belongs in The Weekly then email it to us and we’ll give you a free TCC exclamation mark to say thanks. Meanwhile, if you’re interested to see the mad, marvellous and missable articles featured in previous editions just click here for the full back catalogue.
Laying foundations for resilient cities
A couple of weeks ago we covered an article highlighting some of the myriad interventions around the world tackling prejudice against immigrants and fostering cohesion. Building on the theme, Trevor Phillips has earned himself a free TCC exclamation mark (! – all yours, Trevor) by drawing our attention to this piece on the task facing cities in the age of increased dislocation and pressure on integration in those absorbing large numbers of migrants.
From a selection of member cities of 100 Resilient Cities, municipal staff and Chief Resilience Officers – a role specially funded by 100RC but that we wouldn’t bet against eventually being replicated in plenty of local authorities – offer their experience and expertise in developing proactive strategies to help provide fertile ground for successful cohesion-focussed behavioural approaches in cities impacted by rapid migration.
Also this week:
Social psychologist Jonathan Haidt addresses the power of confirmation bias on social media in this video
This enlightening dissection of the psychology of voting from before the last GE still makes for interesting reading
The pull of the dull candidate
It’s a long-held electoral trope that personality politics holds increasing sway over where our pencil lands at the ballot box, but this election has been remarkable by its rejection of the slick performer routine by both leading candidates for the hot seat. Jeremy Corbyn has long derided the theatrics favoured by the Blairs and the Camerons of yesteryear, while Theresa May has made her mark by promoting stability over flair.
So, are they onto something? A new study from the American Psychological Association suggests so – it contends that, while low charisma leaders are seen as poor strategic leaders, overly charismatic ones are felt to be too weak on the tactical, disciplined elements. The moderately charismatic candidates win out through their combination of the two.
The Values Lab is based on the Values Modes segmentation tool – created by Cultural Dynamics and used by TCC– which divides the population into ethics-driven Pioneers, aspirational Prospectors, and threat-wary Settlers. Take the test here to see which you are.
This week we bring you a Values Lab to die for. Apples fall from trees onto our heads. Rival academics gaze ruefully into their whiskies. The UN and NASA vie for exclusive use of our findings. That’s right, it’s the TCC Values Modes analysis of the election, based on polling with Cultural Dynamics. The data is on our website and additional coverage by the Guardian is here.
The polling is from earlier this month, before the Labour surge many pollsters are now describing. What it shows is a mass Settler relocation to May’s Tories. As described in this more in-depth article in the New Statesman, this has accelerated under Corbyn’s stewardship, but pre-dates him.
The heat maps below, meanwhile, show for the first time the values breakdown of the Brexit vote. 73% of Settlers voted for Brexit, and this shows the extent to which they comprised the Leave bedrock.
Parties usually win with a mix of Pioneers, Prospectors and Settlers. In the past, Labour and the Tories have just about held their values coalitions together, even when they lost. But this election could be a truly fascinating realignment, with the Conservatives dominating among Settlers. This is especially true if Pioneers coalesce around Labour, as looks to be happening. We could see the first contest ever fought on the basis of ‘values’ rather than ‘interests’.
And finally this week, Charlie’s Attic, the TCC Weekly sea-change that’s more zigzag than realignment:
Sing along to election hits from Maydiohead, Kurt Corbyn, Frank Sinatrump and more
See which serial killers eat crisps (allegedly) and while we are at it see the Director’s competition winning entry in the last Walker’s social media pictorial contest (featuring MD Aline Delawa and a bag of crisps)
