Editing Conceptual metaphor (section)

== Family roles and ethics ==
[[George Lakoff]] makes similar claims on the overlap of conceptual metaphors, culture, and society in his book ''[[Moral Politics]]'' and his later book on framing, ''[[Don't Think of an Elephant!]].'' Lakoff claims that the public political arena in America reflects a basic conceptual metaphor of '[[Family|the family]].' Accordingly, people understand political leaders in terms of 'strict father' and 'nurturant mother' roles. Two basic views of [[political economy]] arise from this desire to see the nation-state act 'more like a father' or 'more like a mother.' He further amplified these views in his latest book, ''[[The Political Mind]].''

Urban theorist and ethicist [[Jane Jacobs]] made this distinction in less gender-driven terms by differentiating between a 'Guardian Ethic' and a 'Trader Ethic'.<ref>Jacobs, J. 'Systems of Survival', Hodder and Stoughton, London, 1993. {{ISBN|0340591773}}.</ref> She states that guarding and trading are two concrete activities that human beings must learn to apply metaphorically to all choices in later life. In a society where guarding children is the primary female duty and trading in a market economy is the primary male duty, Lakoff posits that children assign the 'guardian' and 'trader' roles to their mothers and fathers, respectively.