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| america's surprising partisan divide on life expectancy: Hatreds We Love Stephen J. Ducat, 2024-06-25 An in-depth psychological, anthropological, neuroscientific, and historical look at MAGA Republicans and the American Far Right. Fueled by conspiracy thinking and a growing indifference to facts, some Americans, especially on the Right, are increasingly seeing their fellow citizens as threats that must be eliminated. We are witnessing an epidemic of domestic terrorism with a rapidly accumulating body count. This may be the most serious challenge to the integrity of the United States since the Confederate insurrectionists launched their assault on Fort Sumpter in 1861. While an in-depth psychological reading of political events, Hatreds We Love: The Psychology of Political Tribalism in Post-Truth America is grounded in the scholarship and insights of social psychologists, anthropologists, historians, psychoanalysts, neuroscientists, and the many intrepid journalists increasingly threatened by authoritarians who have good reasons to fear truthful reporting. And, of course, author Stephen J. Ducat draws on his own experiences, visions, and values. A major topic addressed in the book is the malignant mindset animating MAGA neo-fascism's zealous partisans. Donald Trump’s fortunes may fade in the coming months and years, but Trumpism will likely remain ascendant. Of course, xenophobic bigotry, violent aversion to democracy, political cults of personality, and indifference to facts are global phenomena and not limited to the United States. But America plays a prominent role, even abroad. In December 2022, it was revealed that a right-wing coup attempt in Germany was, to some extent, modeled on America’s own post-election insurrection, which was planned and executed by the paramilitary wing of the MAGA movement. That German episode was not the first time that the actions of American anti-democratic and white supremacist groups became the template for similar efforts worldwide. In the 1930s, German fascists looked to America as a blueprint for implementing race-based tribalism. Hitler so admired Jim Crow laws in the United States, especially concerning citizenship and anti-miscegenation laws, that he sent a team of legal scholars to study their statutory framework for addressing the problem of racial pollution. While the Nazis initially found a lot to love and incorporate into the Nuremberg Laws, they ironically rejected much of the American model as too harsh. Many pundits have decried the “extremism” of Trumpian lynch-mob politics. On the contrary, Hatreds We Love argues that it is contiguous with the long history of American conservatism going back at least to the antebellum South. From this perspective, the worldview and actions of the GOP's MAGA faction are the logical outcomes of the consistently expressed right-wing ethos of domination, xenophobia, and the freedom to harm. Although there is much handwringing about the toxic synergy of authoritarian political forces, white identity politics, and the embrace of post-factuality, there is insufficient understanding of the links between them. Chief among those links is tribal psychology. Nearly every political pundit decries political tribalism. Yet, public discussion rarely addresses more than its most disturbing symptoms. Hatreds We Love speaks to the causes and underlying dynamics of what is now one of the greatest threats to the viability of what remains of American democracy and global democratic governance more broadly. |
| america's surprising partisan divide on life expectancy: Healing the Fragmented U.S. Healthcare System Barbara Sowada, 2025-02-11 Through a systems perspective, this insightful book challenges the current state of healthcare in the United States, arguing for overarching reforms that would lead ultimately to universal healthcare coverage across the country. Written by the president of the board of trustees of a rural hospital, the book highlights the chronic issues facing American healthcare today, namely high costs, poor health outcomes, excessive health inequalities, and a lack of trust. It uses systems thinking principles – used in hospitals themselves to improve efficiency, quality, and safety of care – to show how the fragmented system could be transformed by addressing these issues holistically. The book also gives suggestions for rebuilding trust, respect, and mutual cooperation, issues which are also critical in healing the current system. Grounded in the author’s direct experience in facing the challenges of dealing with a fragmented system in America today, this perceptive book will interest graduate students in healthcare administration, policy, or leadership programs, as well as scholars in these and related fields. |
| america's surprising partisan divide on life expectancy: Deaths of Despair and the Future of Capitalism Anne Case, Angus Deaton, 2021-03-02 A New York Times Bestseller A Wall Street Journal Bestseller A New York Times Notable Book of 2020 A New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice Shortlisted for the Financial Times and McKinsey Business Book of the Year A New Statesman Book to Read From economist Anne Case and Nobel Prize winner Angus Deaton, a groundbreaking account of how the flaws in capitalism are fatal for America's working class Deaths of despair from suicide, drug overdose, and alcoholism are rising dramatically in the United States, claiming hundreds of thousands of American lives. Anne Case and Angus Deaton explain the overwhelming surge in these deaths and shed light on the social and economic forces that are making life harder for the working class. As the college educated become healthier and wealthier, adults without a degree are literally dying from pain and despair. Case and Deaton tie the crisis to the weakening position of labor, the growing power of corporations, and a rapacious health-care sector that redistributes working-class wages into the pockets of the wealthy. This critically important book paints a troubling portrait of the American dream in decline, and provides solutions that can rein in capitalism's excesses and make it work for everyone. |
| america's surprising partisan divide on life expectancy: The Age of Acrimony Jon Grinspan, 2021-04-27 A penetrating, character-filled history “in the manner of David McCullough” (WSJ), revealing the deep roots of our tormented present-day politics. Democracy was broken. Or that was what many Americans believed in the decades after the Civil War. Shaken by economic and technological disruption, they sought safety in aggressive, tribal partisanship. The results were the loudest, closest, most violent elections in U.S. history, driven by vibrant campaigns that drew our highest-ever voter turnouts. At the century’s end, reformers finally restrained this wild system, trading away participation for civility in the process. They built a calmer, cleaner democracy, but also a more distant one. Americans’ voting rates crashed and never fully recovered. This is the origin story of the “normal” politics of the 20th century. Only by exploring where that civility and restraint came from can we understand what is happening to our democracy today. The Age of Acrimony charts the rise and fall of 19th-century America’s unruly politics through the lives of a remarkable father-daughter dynasty. The radical congressman William “Pig Iron” Kelley and his fiery, Progressive daughter Florence Kelley led lives packed with drama, intimately tied to their nation’s politics. Through their friendships and feuds, campaigns and crusades, Will and Florie trace the narrative of a democracy in crisis. In telling the tale of what it cost to cool our republic, historian Jon Grinspan reveals our divisive political system’s enduring capacity to reinvent itself. |
| america's surprising partisan divide on life expectancy: The Politics Industry Katherine M. Gehl, Michael E. Porter, 2020-06-23 Leading political innovation activist Katherine Gehl and world-renowned business strategist Michael Porter bring fresh perspective, deep scholarship, and a real and actionable solution, Final Five Voting, to the grand challenge of our broken political and democratic system. Final Five Voting has already been adopted in Alaska and is being advanced in states across the country. The truth is, the American political system is working exactly how it is designed to work, and it isn't designed or optimized today to work for us—for ordinary citizens. Most people believe that our political system is a public institution with high-minded principles and impartial rules derived from the Constitution. In reality, it has become a private industry dominated by a textbook duopoly—the Democrats and the Republicans—and plagued and perverted by unhealthy competition between the players. Tragically, it has therefore become incapable of delivering solutions to America's key economic and social challenges. In fact, there's virtually no connection between our political leaders solving problems and getting reelected. In The Politics Industry, business leader and path-breaking political innovator Katherine Gehl and world-renowned business strategist Michael Porter take a radical new approach. They ingeniously apply the tools of business analysis—and Porter's distinctive Five Forces framework—to show how the political system functions just as every other competitive industry does, and how the duopoly has led to the devastating outcomes we see today. Using this competition lens, Gehl and Porter identify the most powerful lever for change—a strategy comprised of a clear set of choices in two key areas: how our elections work and how we make our laws. Their bracing assessment and practical recommendations cut through the endless debate about various proposed fixes, such as term limits and campaign finance reform. The result: true political innovation. The Politics Industry is an original and completely nonpartisan guide that will open your eyes to the true dynamics and profound challenges of the American political system and provide real solutions for reshaping the system for the benefit of all. THE INSTITUTE FOR POLITICAL INNOVATION The authors will donate all royalties from the sale of this book to the Institute for Political Innovation. |
| america's surprising partisan divide on life expectancy: Party and Society Cedric de Leon, 2014-01-07 Political parties are central to democratic life, yet there is no standard definition to describe them or the role they occupy. Voter-centered theoretical approaches suggest that parties are the mere recipients of voter interests and loyalties. Party-centered approaches, by contrast, envision parties that polarize, democratize, or dominate society. In addition to offering isolated and competing notions of democratic politics, such approaches are also silent on the role of the state and are unable to account for organizations like Hamas, Hezbollah, and the African National Congress, which exhibit characteristics of parties, states, and social movements simultaneously. In this timely book, Cedric de Leon examines the ways in which social scientists and other observers have imagined the relationship between parties and society. He introduces and critiques the full range of approaches, using enlivening comparative examples from across the globe. Cutting through a vast body of research, de Leon offers a succinct and lively analysis that outlines the key thinking in the field, placing it in historical and contemporary context. The resulting book will appeal to students of sociology, political science, social psychology, and related fields. |
| america's surprising partisan divide on life expectancy: Divided Victor C. Ottati, Victor Ottati, Chadly Stern, 2023 Bringing together a diverse group of leading psychologists, political scientists, sociologists, and communication scholars who investigate dogmatism and open-mindedness within social and political contexts, Divided: Open-Mindedness and Dogmatism in a Polarized World covers a wide range of topics including key definitions of dogmatism and open-mindedness, the emergence of affective polarization, how open-mindedness relates to attitude formation and change, the correspondence between intellectual humility and open-mindedness, and how social norms and situations shape open-minded cognition. |
| america's surprising partisan divide on life expectancy: When America Stopped Being Great Nick Bryant, 2021-03-04 'Nick Bryant is brilliant. He has a way of showing you what you've been missing from the whole story whilst never leaving you feeling stupid.' – Emily Maitlis 'Bryant is a genuine rarity, a Brit who understands America' – Washington Post In When America Stopped Being Great, veteran reporter and BBC New York correspondent Nick Bryant reveals how America's decline paved the way for Donald Trump's rise, sowing division and leaving the country vulnerable to its greatest challenge of the modern era. Deftly sifting through almost four decades of American history, from post-Cold War optimism, through the scandal-wracked nineties and into the new millennium, Bryant unpacks the mistakes of past administrations, from Ronald Reagan's 'celebrity presidency' to Barack Obama's failure to adequately address income and racial inequality. He explains how the historical clues, unseen by many (including the media) paved the way for an outsider to take power and a country to slide towards disaster. As Bryant writes, 'rather than being an aberration, Trump's presidency marked the culmination of so much of what had been going wrong in the United States for decades – economically, racially, politically, culturally, technologically and constitutionally.' A personal elegy for an America lost, unafraid to criticise actors on both sides of the political divide, When America Stopped Being Great takes the long view, combining engaging storytelling with recent history to show how the country moved from the optimism of Reagan's 'Morning in America' to the darkness of Trump's 'American Carnage'. It concludes with some of the most dramatic events in recent memory, in an America torn apart by a bitterly polarised election, racial division, the national catastrophe of the coronavirus and the threat to US democracy evidenced by the storming of Capitol Hill. |
| america's surprising partisan divide on life expectancy: The Way Out Peter T. Coleman, 2021-06-01 The partisan divide in the United States has widened to a chasm. Legislators vote along party lines and rarely cross the aisle. Political polarization is personal, too—and it is making us miserable. Surveys show that Americans have become more fearful and hateful of supporters of the opposing political party and imagine that they hold much more extreme views than they actually do. We have cordoned ourselves off: we prefer to date and marry those with similar opinions and are less willing to spend time with people on the other side. How can we loosen the grip of this toxic polarization and start working on our most pressing problems? The Way Out offers an escape from this morass. The social psychologist Peter T. Coleman explores how conflict resolution and complexity science provide guidance for dealing with seemingly intractable political differences. Deploying the concept of attractors in dynamical systems, he explains why we are stuck in this rut as well as the unexpected ways that deeply rooted oppositions can and do change. Coleman meticulously details principles and practices for navigating and healing the difficult divides in our homes, workplaces, and communities, blending compelling personal accounts from his years of working on entrenched conflicts with lessons from leading-edge research. The Way Out is a vital and timely guide to breaking free from the cycle of mutual contempt in order to better our lives, relationships, and country. |
| america's surprising partisan divide on life expectancy: Democracies Divided Thomas Carothers, Andrew O'Donohue, 2019 A must-read for anyone concerned about the fate of contemporary democracies.--Steven Levitsky, co-author of How Democracies Die 2020 CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title Why divisions have deepened and what can be done to heal them As one part of the global democratic recession, severe political polarization is increasingly afflicting old and new democracies alike, producing the erosion of democratic norms and rising societal anger. This volume is the first book-length comparative analysis of this troubling global phenomenon, offering in-depth case studies of countries as wide-ranging and important as Brazil, India, Kenya, Poland, Turkey, and the United States. The case study authors are a diverse group of country and regional experts, each with deep local knowledge and experience. Democracies Divided identifies and examines the fissures that are dividing societies and the factors bringing polarization to a boil. In nearly every case under study, political entrepreneurs have exploited and exacerbated long-simmering divisions for their own purposes--in the process undermining the prospects for democratic consensus and productive governance. But this book is not simply a diagnosis of what has gone wrong. Each case study discusses actions that concerned citizens and organizations are taking to counter polarizing forces, whether through reforms to political parties, institutions, or the media. The book''s editors distill from the case studies a range of possible ways for restoring consensus and defeating polarization in the world''s democracies. Timely, rigorous, and accessible, this book is of compelling interest to civic activists, political actors, scholars, and ordinary citizens in societies beset by increasingly rancorous partisanship. al entrepreneurs have exploited and exacerbated long-simmering divisions for their own purposes--in the process undermining the prospects for democratic consensus and productive governance. But this book is not simply a diagnosis of what has gone wrong. Each case study discusses actions that concerned citizens and organizations are taking to counter polarizing forces, whether through reforms to political parties, institutions, or the media. The book''s editors distill from the case studies a range of possible ways for restoring consensus and defeating polarization in the world''s democracies. Timely, rigorous, and accessible, this book is of compelling interest to civic activists, political actors, scholars, and ordinary citizens in societies beset by increasingly rancorous partisanship. al entrepreneurs have exploited and exacerbated long-simmering divisions for their own purposes--in the process undermining the prospects for democratic consensus and productive governance. But this book is not simply a diagnosis of what has gone wrong. Each case study discusses actions that concerned citizens and organizations are taking to counter polarizing forces, whether through reforms to political parties, institutions, or the media. The book''s editors distill from the case studies a range of possible ways for restoring consensus and defeating polarization in the world''s democracies. Timely, rigorous, and accessible, this book is of compelling interest to civic activists, political actors, scholars, and ordinary citizens in societies beset by increasingly rancorous partisanship. al entrepreneurs have exploited and exacerbated long-simmering divisions for their own purposes--in the process undermining the prospects for democratic consensus and productive governance. But this book is not simply a diagnosis of what has gone wrong. Each case study discusses actions that concerned citizens and organizations are taking to counter polarizing forces, whether through reforms to political parties, institutions, or the media. The book''s editors distill from the case studies a range of possible ways for restoring consensus and defeating polarization in the world''s democracies. Timely, rigorous, and accessible, this book is of compelling interest to civic activists, political actors, scholars, and ordinary citizens in societies beset by increasingly rancorous partisanship. ook is not simply a diagnosis of what has gone wrong. Each case study discusses actions that concerned citizens and organizations are taking to counter polarizing forces, whether through reforms to political parties, institutions, or the media. The book''s editors distill from the case studies a range of possible ways for restoring consensus and defeating polarization in the world''s democracies. Timely, rigorous, and accessible, this book is of compelling interest to civic activists, political actors, scholars, and ordinary citizens in societies beset by increasingly rancorous partisanship. |
| america's surprising partisan divide on life expectancy: Questions in the Psychology of Religion Kevin S. Seybold, 2017-03-16 What does it means to be human? What is the origin of religious beliefs? Why are we moral creatures? Are religious experiences different from our everyday experiences? Is my brain involved in my experiencing God? What is a soul and do I have one? Is religion a result of evolutionary processes? How might psychology and religion relate? Religious experiences (behaviors, thoughts, and emotions) are determined, at least in part, by natural physical processes. As a result, the empirical methods used in psychology to try to identify the natural mechanisms that influence why we act, think, and feel the way we do can provide important insights into the fundamental and universal phenomena of religion. Drawing on current research from a variety of disciplines, Questions in the Psychology of Religion is appropriate for college students studying psychology, pastors as they help their congregations understand how religion and science might go together, and anyone who learns about recent discoveries in psychological science and wonders how these findings pertain to religion and religious experiences. |
| america's surprising partisan divide on life expectancy: Solutions to Political Polarization in America Nathaniel Persily, 2015-04-27 This volume assembles several top analysts of American politics to focus on solutions to polarization. |
| america's surprising partisan divide on life expectancy: Why Bother With Elections? Adam Przeworski, 2018-01-16 With the collapse of traditional parties around the world and with many pundits predicting a crisis of democracy, the value of elections as a method for selecting by whom and how we are governed is being questioned. What are the virtues and weaknesses of elections? Are there limitations to what they can realistically achieve? In this deeply informed book world-renowned democratic theorist Adam Przeworski offers a warts-and-all analysis of elections and the ways in which they affect our lives. Elections, he argues, are inherently imperfect but they remain the least bad way of choosing our rulers. According to Przeworski, the greatest value of elections, by itself sufficient to cherish them, is that they process whatever conflicts may arise in society in a way that maintains relative liberty and peace. Whether they succeed in doing so in today's turbulent political climate remains to be seen. |
| america's surprising partisan divide on life expectancy: Hijacked Michael Slaughter, 2012 |
| america's surprising partisan divide on life expectancy: The Quest for Cosmic Justice Thomas Sowell, 2001-06-30 This book is about the great moral issues underlying many of the headline-making political controversies of our times. It is not a comforting book but a book about disturbing and dangerous trends. The Quest for Cosmic Justice shows how confused conceptions of justice end up promoting injustice, how confused conceptions of equality end up promoting inequality, and how the tyranny of social visions prevents many people from confronting the actual consequences of their own beliefs and policies. Those consequences include the steady and dangerous erosion of fundamental principles of freedom -- amounting to a quiet repeal of the American revolution. The Quest for Cosmic Justice is the summation of a lifetime of study and thought about where we as a society are headed -- and why we need to change course before we do irretrievable damage. |
| america's surprising partisan divide on life expectancy: Congressional Record , |
| america's surprising partisan divide on life expectancy: The Cambridge Handbook of Political Psychology Danny Osborne, Chris G. Sibley, 2022-02-24 This handbook reviews political psychology from an international perspective, covering foundational approaches and contemporary challenges. |
| america's surprising partisan divide on life expectancy: Are Filter Bubbles Real? Axel Bruns, 2019-08-27 There has been much concern over the impact of partisan echo chambers and filter bubbles on public debate. Is this concern justified, or is it distracting us from more serious issues? Axel Bruns argues that the influence of echo chambers and filter bubbles has been severely overstated, and results from a broader moral panic about the role of online and social media in society. Our focus on these concepts, and the widespread tendency to blame platforms and their algorithms for political disruptions, obscure far more serious issues pertaining to the rise of populism and hyperpolarisation in democracies. Evaluating the evidence for and against echo chambers and filter bubbles, Bruns offers a persuasive argument for why we should shift our focus to more important problems. This timely book is essential reading for students and scholars, as well as anyone concerned about challenges to public debate and the democratic process. |
| america's surprising partisan divide on life expectancy: Fault Lines Kevin M Kruse, Julian E Zelizer, 2025-04-22 A gripping and troubling account of the origins of our turbulent times. --Jill Lepore, author of These Truths: A History of the United States |
| america's surprising partisan divide on life expectancy: The Next Civil War Stephen Marche, 2023-01-03 Drawing on sophisticated predictive models and nearly two hundred interviews with experts, a journalist plainly breaks down the looming threats to the United States, in this must-read for anyone concerned about the future of its people, its land, and its government. |
| america's surprising partisan divide on life expectancy: What Universities Owe Democracy Ronald J. Daniels, Grant Shreve, Phillip Spector, 2021-10-05 Introduction -- American dreams : access, mobility, fairness -- Free minds : educating democratic citizens -- Hard facts : knowledge creation and checking power -- Purposeful pluralism : dialogue across difference on campus -- Conclusion. |
| america's surprising partisan divide on life expectancy: Beyond the Water’s Edge Paul R. Pillar, 2023-11-28 Intense partisanship is a familiar part of the contemporary United States, but its consequences do not stop at the country’s borders. The damage now extends to U.S. relations with the rest of the world. Too often, political leaders place their own party’s interest in gaining and keeping power ahead of the national interest. Paul R. Pillar examines how and why partisanship has undermined U.S. foreign policy, especially over the past three decades. Placing present-day discord in historical perspective going back to the beginning of the republic, Beyond the Water’s Edge shows that although the corrupting effects of partisan divisions are not new, past leaders were often able to overcome them. Recent social and political trends and developments including the end of the Cold War, however, have contributed to a surge of corrosive partisanship. Pillar demonstrates that its costs range from the prolongation of war and crisis to the intrusion of foreign influence and the undermining of democracy. He explores the ways other governments respond to inconsistency in U.S. foreign policy, the consequences of domestic division for U.S. global leadership, and how the corruption of American democracy also weakens democracy worldwide. Pillar considers possible remedies but draws the sobering conclusion that entrenched political sectarianism makes their adoption unlikely. Offering insightful analysis of the decline of U.S. foreign relations, Beyond the Water’s Edge is an important book for all readers concerned about the state of the American political system. |
| america's surprising partisan divide on life expectancy: Emerging and Re-Emerging Infectious Diseases, An Issue of Physician Assistant Clinics, E-Book Gerald Kayingo, 2023-05-15 In this issue, guest editors bring their considerable expertise to this important topic. - Contains 13 practice-oriented topics including antimicrobial drug resistance and antimicrobial resistant threats; parasitic infections and infestations; spirochetal diseases; prenatal transmitted Infections; emerging infectious diseases and bioterrorism; intersection of emerging infectious diseases and substance abuse disorder; and more. - Provides in-depth clinical reviews on emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases, offering actionable insights for clinical practice. - Presents the latest information on this timely, focused topic under the leadership of experienced editors in the field. Authors synthesize and distill the latest research and practice guidelines to create clinically significant, topic-based reviews. |
| america's surprising partisan divide on life expectancy: After Gun Violence Craig Rood, 2019-05-20 Mass shootings have become the “new normal” in American life. The same can be said for the public debate that follows a shooting: blame is cast, political postures are assumed, but no meaningful policy changes are enacted. In After Gun Violence, Craig Rood argues that this cycle is the result of a communication problem. Without advocating for specific policies, Rood examines how Americans talk about gun violence and suggests how we might discuss the issues more productively and move beyond our current, tragic impasse. Exploring the ways advocacy groups, community leaders, politicians, and everyday citizens talk about gun violence, Rood reveals how the gun debate is about far more than just guns. He details the role of public memory in shaping the discourse, showing how memories of the victims of gun violence, the Second Amendment, and race relations influence how gun policy is discussed. In doing so, Rood argues that forgetting and misremembering this history leads interest groups and public officials to entrenched positions and political failure and drives the public further apart. Timely and innovative, After Gun Violence advances our understanding of public discourse in an age of gridlock by illustrating how public deliberation and public memory shape and misshape one another. It is a search to understand why public discourse fails and how we can do better. |
| america's surprising partisan divide on life expectancy: Why We're Polarized Ezra Klein, 2020-01-28 ONE OF BARACK OBAMA’S FAVORITE BOOKS OF 2022 One of Bill Gates’s “5 books to read this summer,” this New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller shows us that America’s political system isn’t broken. The truth is scarier: it’s working exactly as designed. In this “superbly researched” (The Washington Post) and timely book, journalist Ezra Klein reveals how that system is polarizing us—and how we are polarizing it—with disastrous results. “The American political system—which includes everyone from voters to journalists to the president—is full of rational actors making rational decisions given the incentives they face,” writes political analyst Ezra Klein. “We are a collection of functional parts whose efforts combine into a dysfunctional whole.” “A thoughtful, clear and persuasive analysis” (The New York Times Book Review), Why We’re Polarized reveals the structural and psychological forces behind America’s descent into division and dysfunction. Neither a polemic nor a lament, this book offers a clear framework for understanding everything from Trump’s rise to the Democratic Party’s leftward shift to the politicization of everyday culture. America is polarized, first and foremost, by identity. Everyone engaged in American politics is engaged, at some level, in identity politics. Over the past fifty years in America, our partisan identities have merged with our racial, religious, geographic, ideological, and cultural identities. These merged identities have attained a weight that is breaking much in our politics and tearing at the bonds that hold this country together. Klein shows how and why American politics polarized around identity in the 20th century, and what that polarization did to the way we see the world and one another. And he traces the feedback loops between polarized political identities and polarized political institutions that are driving our system toward crisis. “Well worth reading” (New York magazine), this is an “eye-opening” (O, The Oprah Magazine) book that will change how you look at politics—and perhaps at yourself. |
| america's surprising partisan divide on life expectancy: Climate Change and Society Riley E. Dunlap, Robert J. Brulle, 2015-08-24 Climate change is one of the most critical issues of the twenty-first century, presenting a major intellectual challenge to both the natural and social sciences. While there has been significant progress in natural science understanding of climate change, social science analyses have not been as fully developed. Climate Change and Society breaks new theoretical and empirical ground by presenting climate change as a thoroughly social phenomenon, embedded in behaviors, institutions, and cultural practices. This collection of essays summarizes existing approaches to understanding the social, economic, political, and cultural dimensions of climate change. From the factors that drive carbon emissions to those which influence societal responses to climate change, the volume provides a comprehensive overview of the social dimensions of climate change. An improved understanding of the complex relationship between climate change and society is essential for modifying ecologically harmful human behaviors and institutional practices, creating just and effective environmental policies, and developing a more sustainable future. Climate Change and Society provides a useful tool in efforts to integrate social science research, natural science research, and policymaking regarding climate change and sustainability. Produced by the American Sociological Association's Task Force on Sociology and Global Climate Change, this book presents a challenging shift from the standard climate change discourse, and offers a valuable resource for students, scholars, and professionals involved in climate change research and policy. |
| america's surprising partisan divide on life expectancy: The Polarizers Sam Rosenfeld, 2017-12-28 “Rosenfeld’s insightful study of the development of political parties since World War II is highly instructive for our current moment.” —Kirkus Reviews Even in this most partisan and dysfunctional of eras, we can all agree on one thing: Washington is broken. Politicians take increasingly inflexible and extreme positions, leading to gridlock, partisan warfare, and the sense that our seats of government are nothing but cesspools of hypocrisy, childishness, and waste. The shocking reality, though, is that modern polarization was a deliberate project carried out by Democratic and Republican activists. In The Polarizers, Sam Rosenfeld details why bipartisanship was seen as a problem in the postwar period and how polarization was then cast as the solution. Republicans and Democrats feared that they were becoming too similar, and that a mushy consensus imperiled their agendas and even American democracy itself. Thus began a deliberate move to match ideology with party label—with the toxic results we now endure. Rosenfeld reveals the specific politicians, intellectuals, and operatives who worked together to heighten partisan discord, showing that our system today is not (solely) a product of gradual structural shifts but of deliberate actions motivated by specific agendas. Rosenfeld reveals that the story of Washington’s transformation is both significantly institutional and driven by grassroots influences on both the left and the right. The Polarizers brilliantly challenges and overturns our conventional narrative about partisanship, but perhaps most importantly, it points us toward a new consensus: if we deliberately created today’s dysfunctional environment, we can deliberately change it. “A timely and significant contribution to the literature on political sorting and polarization . . . Highly recommended.” —Choice |
| america's surprising partisan divide on life expectancy: Rivalry and Reform Sidney M. Milkis, Daniel J. Tichenor, 2019-01-25 Few relationships have proved more pivotal in changing the course of American politics than those between presidents and social movements. For all their differences, both presidents and social movements are driven by a desire to recast the political system, often pursuing rival agendas that set them on a collision course. Even when their interests converge, these two actors often compete to control the timing and conditions of political change. During rare historical moments, however, presidents and social movements forged partnerships that profoundly recast American politics. Rivalry and Reform explores the relationship between presidents and social movements throughout history and into the present day, revealing the patterns that emerge from the epic battles and uneasy partnerships that have profoundly shaped reform. Through a series of case studies, including Abraham Lincoln and abolitionism, Lyndon Johnson and the civil rights movement, and Ronald Reagan and the religious right, Sidney M. Milkis and Daniel J. Tichenor argue persuasively that major political change usually reflects neither a top-down nor bottom-up strategy but a crucial interplay between the two. Savvy leaders, the authors show, use social movements to support their policy goals. At the same time, the most successful social movements target the president as either a source of powerful support or the center of opposition. The book concludes with a consideration of Barack Obama’s approach to contemporary social movements such as Black Lives Matter, United We Dream, and Marriage Equality. |
| america's surprising partisan divide on life expectancy: Do Parties Make a Difference? Richard Rose, 1984 |
| america's surprising partisan divide on life expectancy: American Nations Colin Woodard, 2012-09-25 • A New Republic Best Book of the Year • The Globalist Top Books of the Year • Winner of the Maine Literary Award for Non-fiction • Particularly relevant in understanding who voted for who in this presidential election year, this is an endlessly fascinating look at American regionalism and the eleven “nations” that continue to shape North America According to award-winning journalist and historian Colin Woodard, North America is made up of eleven distinct nations, each with its own unique historical roots. In American Nations he takes readers on a journey through the history of our fractured continent, offering a revolutionary and revelatory take on American identity, and how the conflicts between them have shaped our past and continue to mold our future. From the Deep South to the Far West, to Yankeedom to El Norte, Woodard (author of American Character: A History of the Epic Struggle Between Individual Liberty and the Common Good) reveals how each region continues to uphold its distinguishing ideals and identities today, with results that can be seen in the composition of the U.S. Congress or on the county-by-county election maps of any hotly contested election in our history. |
| america's surprising partisan divide on life expectancy: Identity Crisis John Sides, Michael Tesler, Lynn Vavreck, 2019-08-13 A gripping in-depth look at the presidential election that stunned the world Donald Trump's election victory resulted in one of the most unexpected presidencies in history. Identity Crisis provides the definitive account of the campaign that seemed to break all the political rules—but in fact didn't. Featuring a new afterword by the authors that discusses the 2018 midterms and today's emerging political trends, this compelling book describes how Trump's victory was foreshadowed by changes in the Democratic and Republican coalitions that were driven by people's racial and ethnic identities, and how the Trump campaign exacerbated these divisions by hammering away on race, immigration, and religion. The result was an epic battle not just for the White House but about what America should be. |
| america's surprising partisan divide on life expectancy: We Have Never Been Woke Musa al-Gharbi, 2024-10-08 A book that explores the disconnect between the ideals of the Great Awokening and the realities of fixing structural inequality. This book aims to explain how a new elite has risen to prominence and established a social order that is fundamentally premised on exclusion, exploitation and condescension even as its members define themselves in terms of their commitments to uplifting the marginalized and disadvantaged. The book will illustrate how this core tension within the new elite explains a number of trends we've seen, from the Great Awokening to growing political polarization and beyond. We Have Never Been Woke will draw from and build upon al-Gharbi's work over the last six years that has examined the rise of Trump, the crisis of expertise, tensions over 'identity politics' and growing social inequality. It will demonstrate each of these domains as a 'front' of a broader social and cultural conflict - a conflict between those who have come to dominate the 'knowledge economy' and institutions of cultural production and those who feel excluded therefrom. It will highlight the ways symbolic analysts - those elites who have not attained their social position by owning material assets but by trafficing in symbols and rhetoric, images and narratives, data and analysis - deploy wokeness as a weapon in this conflict, often at the expense of those who are actually marginalized and disadvantaged in the prevailing order. As We Have Never Been Woke will demonstrate, the Americans who are the primary producers and consumers of content on antiracism, socialism, feminism, etc. also happen to be the primary beneficiaries of gendered, racialized and other forms of inequality - and not passive beneficiaries. We are active participants in exploiting and reproducing inequalities. However, it is difficult for us to 'see' how we contribute to the problem -- precisely because of our deeply felt commitments to social justice. This book aims to deflate these self-serving narratives while dismantling popular (and self-serving) narratives about the 'losers' in the system - leaving readers with a totally different understanding of how social inequality is produced (and by whom), and unnerving questions about what it would take to meaningfully address it-- |
| america's surprising partisan divide on life expectancy: Breaking the Two-party Doom Loop Lee Drutman, 2020 American democracy is in crisis, but nobody seems to know what to do about it. Breaking the Two-Party Doom Loop offers a big and bold plan. The true crisis of American democracy is that two parties are too few. Deftly weaving together history, theory and political science research, Drutman shows the only to break the binary, zero-sum toxic partisanship is to break it apart. America needs more partisanship, rather than less, but in the form of more parties. In this wide-ranging, learned, but highly accessible book, Drutman charts an exciting path forward that might just save the country. |
| america's surprising partisan divide on life expectancy: What You Should Know About Politics . . . But Don't Jessamyn Conrad, 2012-01-12 Now in its second edition, here is one of the first and only issue-based nonpartisan guides to contemporary American politics. It’s a very exciting time in American politics. Voter turnout in primaries and caucuses across the nation has shattered old records. More than ever, in this election year people are paying attention to the issues. But in a world of sound bites and deliberate misinformation and a political scene that is literally colored by a partisan divide—blue vs. red—how does the average educated American find a reliable source that’s free of political spin? What You Should Know About Politics . . . But Don’t breaks it all down, issue by issue, explaining who stands for what, and why, whether it’s the economy, the war in Iraq, health care, oil and renewable energy sources, or climate change. If you’re a Democrat, a Republican, or somewhere in between, it’s the perfect book to brush up on a single topic or read through to get a deeper understanding of the often mucky world of American politics. |
| america's surprising partisan divide on life expectancy: It's Even Worse Than It Looks Thomas E. Mann, Norman J. Ornstein, 2016-04-05 Acrimony and hyperpartisanship have seeped into every part of the political process. Congress is deadlocked and its approval ratings are at record lows. America's two main political parties have given up their traditions of compromise, endangering our very system of constitutional democracy. And one of these parties has taken on the role of insurgent outlier; the Republicans have become ideologically extreme, scornful of compromise, and ardently opposed to the established social and economic policy regime.In It's Even Worse Than It Looks, congressional scholars Thomas Mann and Norman Ornstein identify two overriding problems that have led Congress -- and the United States -- to the brink of institutional collapse. The first is the serious mismatch between our political parties, which have become as vehemently adversarial as parliamentary parties, and a governing system that, unlike a parliamentary democracy, makes it extremely difficult for majorities to act. Second, while both parties participate in tribal warfare, both sides are not equally culpable. The political system faces what the authors call &asymmetric polarization, with the Republican Party implacably refusing to allow anything that might help the Democrats politically, no matter the cost.With dysfunction rooted in long-term political trends, a coarsened political culture and a new partisan media, the authors conclude that there is no &silver bullet; reform that can solve everything. But they offer a panoply of useful ideas and reforms, endorsing some solutions, like greater public participation and institutional restructuring of the House and Senate, while debunking others, like independent or third-party candidates. Above all, they call on the media as well as the public at large to focus on the true causes of dysfunction rather than just throwing the bums out every election cycle. Until voters learn to act strategically to reward problem solving and punish obstruction, American democracy will remain in serious danger. |
| america's surprising partisan divide on life expectancy: Pain Management and the Opioid Epidemic National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, Health and Medicine Division, Board on Health Sciences Policy, Committee on Pain Management and Regulatory Strategies to Address Prescription Opioid Abuse, 2017-10-28 Drug overdose, driven largely by overdose related to the use of opioids, is now the leading cause of unintentional injury death in the United States. The ongoing opioid crisis lies at the intersection of two public health challenges: reducing the burden of suffering from pain and containing the rising toll of the harms that can arise from the use of opioid medications. Chronic pain and opioid use disorder both represent complex human conditions affecting millions of Americans and causing untold disability and loss of function. In the context of the growing opioid problem, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) launched an Opioids Action Plan in early 2016. As part of this plan, the FDA asked the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to convene a committee to update the state of the science on pain research, care, and education and to identify actions the FDA and others can take to respond to the opioid epidemic, with a particular focus on informing FDA's development of a formal method for incorporating individual and societal considerations into its risk-benefit framework for opioid approval and monitoring. |
| america's surprising partisan divide on life expectancy: American Grace Robert D. Putnam, David E. Campbell, 2012-02-21 Based on two new studies, American Grace examines the impact of religion on American life and explores how that impact has changed in the last half-century. |
| america's surprising partisan divide on life expectancy: Manhood and American Political Culture in the Cold War K.A. Cuordileone, 2012-11-12 Manhood and American Political Culture in the Cold War explores the meaning of anxiety as expressed through the political and cultural language of the early cold war era. Cuordileone shows how the preoccupation with the soft, malleable American character reflected not only anti-Communism but acute anxieties about manhood and sexuality. Reading major figures like Arthur Schlesinger Jr., Adlai Stevenson, Joseph McCarthy, Norman Mailer, JFK, and many lesser known public figures, Cuordileone reveals how the era’s cult of toughness shaped the political dynamics of the time and inspired a reinvention of the liberal as a cold warrior. |
| america's surprising partisan divide on life expectancy: US Health: A Failed System: Liaropoulos, Lykourgos, 2016-10-29 Health has been one of the most frequent issues arising in the Social Policy debate for the last 60 or more years. The answers given vary according to political ideology, economic expediency, and the moral standing of individuals and society. The sources of funding are essentially two: either the individual directly, or a larger group acting on his behalf. In the second case, we have two main categories. The individual is either covered by private for-profit insurance, or by a public insurance scheme financed by mandatory employment contributions and/or by taxes on income and/or wealth. The economic implications of each form of health insurance are immense—for individuals, employers, the government, and for the economy as a whole. The main differentiation is the position of health care in the value system of society. If health care is considered a right, its financing must be similar to that of other public goods or rights such as justice, national security, personal safety, basic education, etc. At the same time, the provision of all public goods is a public responsibility and government is judged by how well it measures up to this responsibility. If, on the other hand, health care is considered a good, bought and sold on the market, then it is up to individuals to provide for themselves. Obviously, this fundamental issue belongs to the sphere of politics and is up to society to judge, according to its code of ethics. The time to decide has come in America, somewhat belatedly, but in a way more acute than ever. The health of individuals, but also and mainly the economic health of the nation, depends on the decision. |
| america's surprising partisan divide on life expectancy: When Democracy Trumps Populism Kurt Weyland, Raúl L. Madrid, 2019-02-14 The victory of Donald Trump in the 2016 election left specialists of American politics perplexed and concerned about the future of US democracy. Because no populist leader had occupied the White House in 150 years, there were many questions about what to expect. Marshaling the long-standing expertise of leading specialists of populism elsewhere in the world, this book provides the first systematic, comparative analysis of the prospects for US democracy under Trump, considering the two regions - Europe and Latin America - that have had the most ample recent experiences with populist chief executives. Chapters analyze the conditions under which populism slides into illiberal or authoritarian rule and in so doing derive well-grounded insights and scenarios for the US case, as well as a more general cross-national framework. The book makes an original argument about the likely resilience of US democracy and its institutions. |
United States - Wikipedia
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 states and a federal …
United States | History, Map, Flag, & Population | Britannica
4 days ago · The United States is a country in North America that is a federal republic of 50 states. Besides the 48 conterminous states that occupy the middle latitudes of the continent, …
United States - Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The United States of America, also known as the United States (U.S.) or simply America, is a sovereign country mostly in North America. It is divided into 50 states . 48 of these states and …
The U.S. and its government - USAGov
Learn about the United States, including American history, the president, holidays, the American flag, census data, and more. Get contact information for U.S. federal government agencies, …
United States Facts | Britannica
2 days ago · The United States is a country in North America that is a federal republic of 50 states. Besides the 48 conterminous states that occupy the middle latitudes of the continent, …
USA Map | Maps of the United States of America - World Maps
The United States of America (USA), for short America or United States (U.S.) is the third or the fourth-largest country in the world. It is a constitutional based republic located in North …
The social, economic, and political history of the United States ...
United States, officially United States of America, Country, North America. It comprises 48 conterminous states occupying the mid-continent, Alaska at the northwestern extreme of North …
United States - The World Factbook
6 days ago · Visit the Definitions and Notes page to view a description of each topic.
U.S. facts and figures - USAGov
Learn about the United States, including American holidays, the American flag, presidents, census data, and the U.S. Constitution.
Portal:United States - Wikipedia
The United States of America is a federal republic of 50 states, a federal district and 14 territories. It is located mostly in central North America.
United States - Wikipedia
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 states and a federal …
United States | History, Map, Flag, & Population | Britannica
4 days ago · The United States is a country in North America that is a federal republic of 50 states. Besides the 48 conterminous states that occupy the middle latitudes of the continent, …
United States - Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The United States of America, also known as the United States (U.S.) or simply America, is a sovereign country mostly in North America. It is divided into 50 states . 48 of these states and …
The U.S. and its government - USAGov
Learn about the United States, including American history, the president, holidays, the American flag, census data, and more. Get contact information for U.S. federal government agencies, …
United States Facts | Britannica
2 days ago · The United States is a country in North America that is a federal republic of 50 states. Besides the 48 conterminous states that occupy the middle latitudes of the continent, …
USA Map | Maps of the United States of America - World Maps
The United States of America (USA), for short America or United States (U.S.) is the third or the fourth-largest country in the world. It is a constitutional based republic located in North …
The social, economic, and political history of the United States ...
United States, officially United States of America, Country, North America. It comprises 48 conterminous states occupying the mid-continent, Alaska at the northwestern extreme of North …
United States - The World Factbook
6 days ago · Visit the Definitions and Notes page to view a description of each topic.
U.S. facts and figures - USAGov
Learn about the United States, including American holidays, the American flag, presidents, census data, and the U.S. Constitution.
Portal:United States - Wikipedia
The United States of America is a federal republic of 50 states, a federal district and 14 territories. It is located mostly in central North America.
