Political socialization is the process in which we develop
out beliefs about the political system.
It happens over time and starts from birth. During this process several main factors such
as race can influence our beliefs. Those
factors can also conflict with each other to create cross pressure where we
feel the struggle in ourselves between different factors. In this three part series, I will examine the political environment of Panem during the three books, The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, and Mockingjay written by Suzanne Collins. All of my source material with the exception of geographic locations come from the books themselves and my own education (I have a degree in Political Science). My geography references to Panem's locations come from various maps online.
Part I - The Political Spectrum
Before we begin to discuss how Katniss Everdeen is
socialized, let’s familiarize ourselves with the political spectrum. The basic political beliefs comprise five
different levels; Radicals, Liberals, Moderates, Conservatives, and Reactionaries.
Moderates
If we were to draw a
line, we could go from left to right but for the sake of comparison, I’m going
to start at the middle. Moderates are at
the middle and they are exactly that.
These people are very in the middle about their beliefs. They are not generally members of a political
party. They are moved by issues that
pertain to their lives and while they vote and may be somewhat politically
active, these concerns don’t impact their everyday lives overly much. Most of the population is in the middle. Their beliefs are not extreme. They are concerned by issues that impact
their lives such as if they are jobless or without health care and those issues
cause them to be involved. Moderates are
not the same as independents. Sometimes
it’s easy to confuse them because moderates seem to keep themselves distant
from the actual going-ons in government.
Moderates will have a preference for a political party when they are
voting while a true independent votes for the person, a non-mainstream
political party, and perhaps an issue rather than based on any mainstream party affiliation. Independents are about 33%
of the middle (in American society this number has grown). In Katniss’ post United
States world of Panem, most people are
moderates. Even Katniss starts out the novels
as a moderate. She acts in her daily life with little regard for the political situation beyond her own issue, starvation.
In the fall, a few brave souls sneak into the woods to harvest apples. But always in sight of the Meadow. Always close enough to run back to the safety of District 12 if trouble arises. "District Twelve. Where you can starve to death in safety," I mutter. Then I glance quickly over my shoulder. Even here, even in the middle of nowhere, you worry someone might overhear you. Page 5, The Hunger Games
Taking out the whole idea
of voting and just thinking about the issues, most people are concerned with
survival and economic well-being. If
they are extreme in their views, depending on which way they go, they could
challenge President Snow’s comfortable reign and put their lives in
danger. So they are moderates out of
necessity. And in the case of Panem, these are extremely apathetic moderates. It's not that they don't care, it's that they can't act for fear of upsetting their personal lives.
Conservatives
Let’s take a tour to the right (not because I like them
more). On the right of our spectrum,
there are conservatives and reactionaries.
Conservatives are between moderate and reactionary. They see government as needing to be limited
for fear of overreach. Conservatives are
concerned about the same social issues as anyone like whether or not they have
health care. But their views on how this
is going to be accomplished is what makes them who they are. They see that government is not the answer to
solving problems entirely. And for them,
certain problems such as health care might be better solved by other
establishments in society. Conservatives
tend to look at all of the participants in society as having a stake in
it. Their participants are government,
business, churches, and social groups.
Conservatives tend to think that all politics are local and better
solved by those closest to the issue. So
health care is provided by the business arena to workers to keep them healthy
and available for work. This means that
any issues related to this might be best solved by the business sector. Government is just one participant on the
field and perhaps better suited to issues of foreign policy and defense because
that’s closest to the needs of all people.
In the Hunger Games universe, there's no conservative presence because the government is in charge of production and any sorts
of benefits, which would go against the grain of any conservative participating
in government. Since this government
seems to be distinctly in the control of a dictator, President Snow, the fears
of real-life conservatives have foundation that a federal government which is not
limited can turn into a tyranny. The
emphasis on a strongly restricted federal government and an active local
government that would normally be part of the conservative government are no
longer present in Panem due to extreme economic difficulties and war. Local governments voluntarily ceded control
to the Federal government (now located in the Rocky Mountains). But if there were conservative voices, they have long been stamped out. Katniss' father does represent one of those disappeared conservative voices. There's very little evidence of it, but most comes directly from Katniss and her memories of her father. After all, a child does not fall far from the tree of their parent's belief systems.
"When I was younger, I scared my mother to death, the things I would blurt out about District 12, about the people who rule our country, Panem, from the far off city called the Capitol." Page 5, The Hunger Games
The reference is subtle but she is parroting her father's words at a young age and he has expressed displeasure at the assumption of federal control over the government - the ultimate conservative reaction to the problems of society.
Reactionaries
Farthest to the right are reactionaries. Reactionaries see that government and society
have strayed too far from their roots.
They believe there is overreach on the part of government and society to
solve problems wrongfully. These
problems often are merely growing pains of society as it moves or changes value
systems. But reactionaries attribute
problems such as poverty, environmental damage, or the family unit declining as
punishment for the changing morality or government negligence. Reactionaries are (as their name suggests)
reacting to pressure either from inside or outside society and want to protect
what they believe are traditional values.
This shows up in Catching Fire when President Snow is responding to the
pressure from Katniss’ performance at the Hunger Games by having a Quarter
Quell. This is reactionary on his part,
and he’s attempting to stir up sentimental feelings at to Panem’s history
during the 75th Hunger Games.
As he reacts more to protecting the existing system, he becomes more
violent towards the population especially Katniss and the game victors, targeting
those closest to them as a way of keeping them in line. His mission is presented to the people as a
way of isolating or destroying any questioning parties who seek to rip apart
any security Panem has. Since most of
Panem is moderate, they will not seek to act outside the system to test the
President and he is comfortable in his position. In Catching Fire, it seems that most of the
populace is still isolated, concerned with their own welfare and survival so
they welcome the games as a way of keeping their mind of their own problems. Since there is not a vibrant press to
question President Snow’s actions, one missing stylist will hardly faze the
population.
Liberals
On the left side of the spectrum are liberals and radicals
(at the far end). Liberals believe that
using the government to solve social and economic problems is the best because
government has advantages over business and other areas of society. Government has at it’s hand resources and
theoretically should be unbiased in delivering those goods. When there is overreach on the part of
government, liberals argue that most often this overreach has happened at local
levels and would be less likely to happen in a larger system such as a federal
government because there are checks and balance built in on that government and
not on local governments as much. The Federal government through it's checks and balances is more likely to act without bias and distribute the most goods to the most places. As
with the conservatives, it is difficult to imagine liberals in the Hunger Games
universe, the closest to a liberal of any kind that I can find in the books might be Plutarch Heavensbee. He works within the government to attempt to solve problems but it easy to imagine his mounting disillusionment with President Snow's tyranny. In fact, as with all dictatorial governments, any political beliefs in the spectrum are stamped out to
prevent any dissent and Plutarch Heavensbee would have found the same fate as Cinna and Seneca Crane had he been revealed for his true beliefs and actions ultimately against the government. Again, just like
the conservatives, the same fears have come true with overreach happening on
all levels of government and the federal government (the Capitol) has no checks
on it. The local governments are running their citizens to the ground in efforts to produce at high levels for the Capitol. As long as they meet their quotas, the Federal government leaves the local governments to institute any manner of abuses such as in District 11 where the Peacekeepers and local government are particularly brutal. The worst fears of any liberal are seen in how the local populace are kept down with curfews and brutal measures such as food rationing.
Radicals
Radicals are the far end of the left side of our
spectrum. They see that the government
that is in place has been unable to deal with the problems of poverty and the
system is not serving the needs of all people.
When the government before Panem was in place (we assume this was the United
States), there was record of horrific catastrophes.
“He tells the history of Panem, the country that rose up out
of the ashes of a place once called North America. He lists the disasters, the droughts, the
storms, the fires, the encroaching seas that swallowed up much of the land, the
brutal war for what little sustenance remained.
The result was Panem, a shining Capitol ringed by thirteen districts,
which brought peace and prosperity to it’s citizens.” Page 17 Hunger Games
It is then theoretical that the radicals were the ones who
rose up out of this chaos when the government was no longer able to function
and stave off the attacks from the global disasters. Radicals want to get a new government – start
fresh with a foundation that isn’t built in history or dysfunction of the
previous government. They resent the
liberals who like them see the same sorts of problems, inability of the
government to deal with poverty, health care, energy resources, or in general
provide for the people. Their resentment
stems from the liberals’ idealism that the government can be changed. Radicals believe that the government can’t be
just modified because the liberal’s changes are just an improperly applied
patch on a deeper problem. Like the
extremes of the reactionaries, they will resort to violence to achieve their
ends. When the new government of Panem
was instituted, the people caved in to their need for safety and allowed the
new form of government throw out previously accepted freedoms. So the Districts rose up against the
government in protest, it was the radicals in the new Capitol who put down the
revolution to protect the new government system and then instituted the Hunger
Games. If you were to take our spectrum
and instead of a line, turned it into a circle, reactionaries and radicals
would meet. Their ends are often the
same and achieved through violence or at least revolution. At the end of the revolution, the Radicals quickly moved to the Reactionary position on the spectrum just to protect their power.
When the government becomes Reactionary through President
Snow, the Radicals are the first to go, through purges such as the
massive bombing campaign on District 13.
After all as both political camps know, it just takes a handful of
revolutionaries to cause chaos.
President Snow refers to this and his words haunt Katniss in
Mockingjay.
“Katniss Everdeen, the girl
who was on fire, you have provided a spark that, left unattended, may grown to
an inferno that destroys Panem.”
But
here’s the catch, while we know that President Snow is a tyrant, we get little
to no reading on President Coin. We
should be she’s presented as a very neutral and efficient character, certainly
not an obvious threat. She is one of the former Reactionaries who seems to have escaped the purges and come out of it in a better position in power within her rag-tag district. While Katniss
dislikes her intensely, the rest of the citizens of District 13 hold her in
high regard. She has been the mastermind
of the attacks on the Capitol, threatening their government but she has also instituted a series of measures that have kept the citizens of District 13 alive in their underground city. So President Snow is reacting justifiably to
threats. But does President Coin offer a
valid government or has she gone the way of the extreme radical and is pushing
just another brand of tyranny? The “new”
form of government that she has erected in District 13 after their standoff
with the Capitol bears a striking resemblance to Communism. District 13 has
problems with production and so they seek to breed workers (an unexpected gift of new blood being introduced through the District 12 rescue-es). They also have very strict schedules,
automatic citizenship, and assigned housing among other commune-like
features. It is useful to note that not
all radicals overthrow a tyranny to communism.
But there is a cleansing aspect to both reactionary and radical personas
on the political spectrum. They will
attempt to move either farther towards what they know or completely away from
any roots of previous governments.
No matter who you are, you are going to fall somewhere on
the spectrum. How you then participate
in this is determined by the value you place on these beliefs and a process
called political socialization. In my next Hunger Games article, I will focus on the different levels in which people participate in their government as related to the participation of those in Panem. Please note that these are my own interpretations of Suzanne Collins' work.
