Political Science 790STB - Political Polarization

By any measure, and at all levels, American politics is deeply polarized along partisan lines, often asymmetrically so. This tribal division along partisan lines has changed the tone of political discourse, impacted the ability of our government to function, spread into apolitical facets of American life, led to political violence, and now poses a significant threat to democratic norms and institutions. This class will delve into the origins, psychology, and social dynamics of this hyper-polarization. We will seek to understand the nature of this division and examine its implications for government, society and the future of American democracy. We will deeply engage this very active research program, covering scholarship on mass-, individual-, and elite-level polarization, and attending to issues of conceptualization, measurement, and methodology.