tribalism
One anthem.
September 25, 2021Couple this commentary with Shankar Vedantam’s Hidden Brain recent episode on Group Think.
How do the groups you identify with shape your sense of self? Do they influence the beer you buy? The way you vote? Psychologist Jay Van Bavel says our group loyalties affect us more than we realize, and can even shape our basic senses of sight, taste and smell.
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/hidden-brain/id1028908750?i=1000536058522
Jay Van Bavel is an Associate Professor of Psychology & Neural Science at New York University, an affiliate at the Stern School of Business in Management and Organizations, and Director of the Social Identity & Morality Lab.
Essential reading.
September 21, 2018
Cover to cover The Atlantic’s October issue is essential reading from some of the most varied minds in our country today. They were invited to explore the premise of democracy’s demise. Topics include autocracy, tribalism, James Madison’s ‘Madisonian mob factions’, tyranny, and America’s courts by writers Anne Applebaum, Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, Jeff Rosen, David Frum, Amy Chua, and others. The links are pinned below.
A note from The Atlantic:
Though these ills can be seen most plainly in the style and behavior of a growing number of political leaders worldwide, their sources run deeper than that. The aim of this package is to diagnose their serenity and root causes.
Some of these causes are universal; some are unique to the United States. The essays are grouped to reflect this distinction, and then to consider solutions.
Sprinkled throughout are brief warnings about risks to democracy from The Atlantic’s archives–some prescient, some misplaced, and many all too relevant today.
These are some of the headlines, stories, and links.
Losing the Democratic Habit
Yoni Appelbaum
Americans once learned self-governance by practicing it constantly–in lodge halls, neighborhood associations, and labor unions. As participation in these institutions had dwindled, so had public faith in democracy. To restore it, we must return democratic practices to everyday life.
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/10/losing-the-democratic-habit/568336/
The Threat of Tribalism
Amy Chua & Red Rubenfeld
The constitution once united a diverse country under a banner of ideas. But partisanship has turned Americans against one another–and against the principles enshrined in our founding document.
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/10/losing-the-democratic-habit/568336/
Madison vs. The Mob
Jeffrey Rosen
The founders designed a government that would be insulted from the heat of popular sentiment, but they didn’t anticipate the unbridled passions of the digital age. Here’s how the constitutional order can survive.
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/10/james-madison-mob-rule/568351/
America’s Courts Can’t Ignore the World
Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer
The U.S. Constitution is an American document. And American law should look exclusively to American precedents. Right? Not so, a supreme Court Justice says. That approach sounds good in theory, but the laws of other countries have a bearing on our own–and the highest court in the land needs to take heed.
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/10/james-madison-mob-rule/568351/
Building an Autocracy
David Frum
Will American democracy survive DT? And will the midterms matter?
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/10/building-an-autocracy/568282/
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Link to The Atlantic October issue:
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/toc/2018/10/