Overview
The Institute for Humane Studies invites graduate students to apply for “Polarization, Pluralism, and Democracy,” a series of four online discussions exploring the rise of polarization in America, how polarization threatens to undermine American democracy, and what can be done to address those threats. You may apply for one or more sessions.
Please note that accepted applicants are asked to acquire the reading materials on their own, whether through their institution’s library or by purchasing books. Participants will receive a $125 honorarium plus a $50 stipend per session to purchase books.
Reading List and Schedule
Discussions take place the first Thursday of each month, March–June 2023, from 2–4 p.m. ET
March 2 – “Social Media”
- Settle, Jaime E. Frenemies: How Social Media Polarizes America. Cambridge University Press, 2018.
- Chapter 3: The END Framework of Political Interaction of Social Media
- Chapter 4: How Do END Interactions on the News Feed Psychologically Polarize Users?
- Barberá, Pablo. “Social Media, Echo Chambers, and Political Polarization.” Social Media and Democracy. Nathaniel Persily and Joshua A. Tucker, Eds. Cambridge University Press, 2020, 34–55.
- Hwang, Tim. “Dealing With Disinformation: Evaluating the Case for Amendment of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act.” Social Media and Democracy. Nathaniel Persily and Joshua A. Tucker, Eds. Cambridge University Press, 2020, 252–285.
- Villasenor, John. The Supreme Court and Social Media Platform Liability. Brookings.
- Gorwa, Robert and Timothy Garton Ash. “Democratic Transparency in the Platform Society.” Social Media and Democracy. Nathaniel Persily and Joshua A. Tucker, Eds. Cambridge University Press, 2020, 286–312.
April 6 – “Populism’s Rise”
- Ingleheart, Ronald and Pippa Noris. 2016. “Trump, Brexit, and the Rise of Populism: Economic Have-Nots and Cultural Backlash.” HKS Working Paper.
- Autor, David, David Dorn, Gordon Hanson, and Kaveh Majlesi. “Importing Political Polarization? The Electoral Consequences of Rising Trade Exposure.” American Economic Review 2020, 110 (10): 3139–3183.
- Mutz, Diana C. “Status threat, not economic hardship, explains the 2016 presidential vote.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 115.19 (2018): E4330–E4339.
- Carney, Timothy P. Alienated America: Why Some Places Thrive While Others Collapse. HarperCollins, 2020.
- Chapter 3: “They’ve Chosen Not to Keep Up”: Is It Economics or Culture?
May 4 – “Race and Polarization”
- Abramowitz, A. and Jennifer McCoy. “United States: Racial Resentment, Negative Partisanship, and Polarization in Trump’s America.” The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science. January 1, 2019.
- Westwood, S. and E. Peterson. “The Inseparability of Race and Partisanship in the United States.” Political Behavior. 2020.
- Gest, Justin. Majority Minority. Oxford University Press, 2022.
- Chapter 1: Majority Minority: An Introduction
- Chapter 2: Escape Velocity: The Pull of Nationalism amid Demographic Change
- Chapter 10: From Backlash to Coexistence: How Institutional Choices Determine Social Boundaries
- Chapter 11: National-Building: Messages and Messengers that Cultivate Coexistence
- Mounk, Yascha. The Great Experiment: Why Diverse Democracies Fall Apart and How They Can Endure. New York: Penguin Press, 2022.
- Chapter 9: Demography Isn’t Destiny
June 1 – “Polarization, Pluralism, and Democracy”
- Jacobs, Nicholas F., Desmond King, and Sidney Milkis. “Building a Conservative State: Partisan Polarization and the Redeployment of Administrative Power.” Perspectives on Politics, 17(2), 453–469.
- Postell, Joseph. “Situational Constitutionalism and the Congress of Collective Inaction.” Law and Liberty, 2017.
- Postell, Joseph. “The Case for the Unitary Speaker.” Law and Liberty, 2015.
- McCarty, Nolan. Polarization: What Everyone Needs to Know. New York: Oxford University Press, 2019.
- Chapter 6: How Does Electoral Law Affect Legislative Polarization?
- Chapter 8: Is the Trump Presidency a New Normal or More of the Same?
- Smith, Steven B. Reclaiming Patriotism in an Age of Extremes. Yale University Press, 2021.
- Chapter 5: Enlightened Patriotism
- Nussbaum, Martha. “Patriotism and Cosmopolitanism.” Boston Review. 1994.