archive

Path to polarization

Nathan Canen (Houston), Chad Kendall (USC), and Francesco Trebbi (UBC): Unbundling Polarization. Adam Hilton (Mount Holyoke): The Path to Polarization: McGovern-Fraser, Counter-Reformers, and the Rise of the Advocacy Party. The promise of polarization: Sam Tanenhaus reviews The Polarizers: Postwar Architects of Our Partisan Era by Sam Rosenfeld (and more). Americans are shifting the rest of their identity to match their politics. Americans say their politics don’t define them — but it’s complicated. What happens to democracy when your opponent becomes the enemy? There is no middle ground for deep disagreements about facts.

From Vox, the biggest political problem in America, explained in one chart: Americans don’t just disagree on the issues — they disagree on what the issues are; “Hidden Tribes”, the new report centrists are using to explain away polarization, explained; when Twitter users hear out the other side, they become more polarized; and how meditation and psychedelic drugs could fix tribalism — yes, seriously.