A thread through the archive
Essays tagged “political polarization”. Follow an idea across the archive.
Scott Alexander examines the parallels between social justice and anti-social justice groups, arguing that shared experiences of perceived persecution could lead to better understanding and less conflict.
Scott Alexander examines how issues become politicized along tribal lines, preventing rational discussion and leading to counterproductive behaviors.
Scott Alexander shares and briefly comments on various insightful quotes from Jonathan Haidt's 'The Righteous Mind', covering topics like psychology, politics, and religion.
Scott Alexander examines how 'fnords' and similar psychological techniques may influence political discourse and polarization through unconscious associations.
Scott analyzes DW-NOMINATE data which unexpectedly shows no leftward drift in US politics over 120 years, despite historical evidence suggesting otherwise.
Scott argues that people make better decisions when evaluating issues in isolation rather than viewing them as symbols of larger political narratives, using examples from the Duke lacrosse case, environmental regulation debates, and gender politics to illustrate how overarching narratives distort judgment of individual cases.
Scott explores how innate neurological differences in emotional responses might drive political disagreements, suggesting that people form intuitive reactions first and rationalize them later, making political debate extremely difficult.