The article is "The Big Sort" in the US of A section of the June 21st 2008 issue (just in case you really want the whole thing).
The header is "Americans are increasingly choosing to live among like-minded neighbours. This makes the culture war more bitter and politics harder" As you can see, a bit of fluff journalism.
So, what are we on about here? Well, in the interest of saving one friend (you know who you are), I will use the briefest of synopses:
- Some (many) communities are becoming close knit, ideologically segregated enclaves. Conservatives live near other conservatives, liberals near liberals. Evidence comes from the presidential election results.
- 1976 Carter won 50.1% of the vote, but 26.8% of Americans were in "landslide counties" where Carter won or lost the county by 20 percentage points or more.
- 2000 Bush won in a dead heat; 45.3% landslide counties.
- 2004 Bush wins again; 48.3% landslide counties. All this comes from a recent book -"The Big Sort: Why the Clustering of Like-Minded America is Tearing us Apart".
- Americans are mobile and can indulge even a mild preference for living with similar kooks. Over time, this means they are less likely to be exposed to contrary views. In data from 12 countries, Americans were the least likely to talk about politics with those who disagreed with them.
- The more educated Americans are, the more insular they are. That is positively weird.
- Same thing with radio, TV, Internet. Many more channels etc. make migration to a constant point of view easier.
- So what? Groups that are ideologically the same become more extreme. Even judges. Decisions by a group of nothing but conservatives are more hard edged than thsoe by a group of conservatives with a few lost liberals. Even judges.
And so to a few pictures.
The first Morning Glory, and a new rose.
Our first wisteria bloom (after many years of patience).
And a Day Lily.
4 comments:
I read that article last month and was amazed. Do you think the same thing happens in Canada, or might happen? In Britain whole communities have traditionally voted the same way (industrial towns=Labour/metropole or farming =conservative), but that no longer holds true. Now nobody votes.
Sharon
I'd like to see that data that shows Americans are unlikely to talk about politics with dissenters, 'cause I don't buy it. My own experience has been that Americans love talking about politics, and they love arguing (not just shouting) about it — way more than Canadians, who usually clam up to be polite. It is true, though, that American cities seem to lean one way or another more than Canadian ones.
A case could be made from this article that the U.S. needs to revise that ridiculous electoral system of theirs, and bring it closer to a popular vote, so that geographical location doesn't carry so much weight.
In any case, there's probably not much one can do about people preferring to communicate with like-minded other people. As our culture gets more and more complex, it becomes harder to define one's place and so weird artificial communities sprout up and everyone has to choose what and whom to ignore. I, for instance, would probably never read The Economist. But I don't think anyone would make the argument that there is, say, more bigotry or intolerance in America today than there was a hundred or even fifty years ago. We might be more choosy about the "types" we hang out with now, but that's because there are way more types than there used to be.
- Andrew
Interesting. But I agree with John and Sharon. When I travel (not often enough) the Americans I meet introduce themselves as so and so and my wife from such and such state we are Republicans or Democrats. Not one other nationality has ever identified themselves by their politics. I find this extremely interesting and very informative.
Dave Stewart
Thank you Andrew for sharing your gift with us at Poppa's Service Both Gary and I are still remaking what a great gift of words you have You should consider being a writer in another life! It was nice to see you and Alison and recognize how big Poppas family is and how we each carry on with a piece of his legacy Thank you Andre Love Marilen
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