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Polarization: What Everyone Needs to Know®
The 2016 election of Donald J. Trump invoked a time for reflection about the state of American politics and its deep ideological, cultural, racial, regional, and economic divisions. But one aspect that the contemporary discussions often miss is that these fissures have been opening over several decades and are deeply rooted in the structure of American politics and society.
In What Everyone Needs to Know� Nolan McCarty takes readers through what scholars know and don't know about the origins, development, and implications of our rising political conflicts, delving into social, economic, and geographic determinants of polarization in the United States. While the current political climate seems to suggest that extreme views are becoming more popular, McCarty also argues that, contrary to popular belief, the 2016 election was a natural outgrowth of 40 years of polarized politics, rather than a significant break with the past. He evaluates arguments over which factors that have created this state of affairs, including gerrymandered legislative districts, partisan primary nomination systems, and our private campaign finance system. He also considers the potential of major reforms such as instating proportional representation or ranked choice voting to remedy extreme polarization. A concise overview of a complex and crucial topic in US politics, this book is for anyone wanting to understand how to repair the cracks in our system.
In What Everyone Needs to Know� Nolan McCarty takes readers through what scholars know and don't know about the origins, development, and implications of our rising political conflicts, delving into social, economic, and geographic determinants of polarization in the United States. While the current political climate seems to suggest that extreme views are becoming more popular, McCarty also argues that, contrary to popular belief, the 2016 election was a natural outgrowth of 40 years of polarized politics, rather than a significant break with the past. He evaluates arguments over which factors that have created this state of affairs, including gerrymandered legislative districts, partisan primary nomination systems, and our private campaign finance system. He also considers the potential of major reforms such as instating proportional representation or ranked choice voting to remedy extreme polarization. A concise overview of a complex and crucial topic in US politics, this book is for anyone wanting to understand how to repair the cracks in our system.
276 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 7, 2019
25 people are currently reading
84 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
February 10, 2020
EXCELLENT book!!! Political science written for a broader audience. And it's about an important topic. McCarty makes clear that a lot of the supposed fixes for polarization likely won't work.
August 3, 2024
Overall, this book is chock-full of good content, but it's a bit dry, and the concluding chapter--though it is, in my opinion, spot-on--lacks the rigor of the rest of the book, which ironically makes the most readable part of the book feel disconnected from the core of its scholarly arguments.
January 28, 2020
McCarty has a problem: why can't Americans vote 99% for the right leader just like in the Soviet Union? So he has come with some solutions.
January 17, 2025
I am very encouraged about the facts this book reveals. It is very heavily statistical and looks at the idea from many angles.
July 25, 2019
*** Possible spoilers ***
This book was well written and very well researched. The author accomplished what he set out to do.
For that reason I've awarded this 5 stars.
That said, the book was not altogether satisfying. The author backed up his assertions with statistical evidence; however, there are only so many statistics available and this book left me with more questions than answers. In addition, while passing reference was made to Canada, the author dealt primarily with the political system in the United States.
There were a number of surprises a few of which I found questionable. While considerable polarization and partisanship was observed in elected politicians, not nearly as much was found in the general public. To a large extent this was attributed to political disinterest. If people couldn't care less about politics, it's suggested they aren't polarized. I would treat that with suspicion. However, I'm not the one running the numbers.
Another thing I found a bit frustrating was the author's focus on trends. He spends a great deal of time and effort proving that polarization forms a 'U' curve peaking in the late 1800s, dipping to a low mid century and then rising to the present. Therefore if more people are polarized now than in the past he argues that polarization is increasing, but this fails to take into account the degree. Let's suppose that on some issue, x% of the population is supportive and y% is opposed and lets suppose both x and y are large. This indicates polarization on that issue. Unfortunately it doesn't entirely take into account the degree of polarization. So lets suppose that both x and y are small, but boy, do those groups hate one another - for example White Nationalists vs Antifa. There is no good way statistically of quantifying the hatred they have for one another, yet I think it's important, first because it frequently results in violence and second because the resulting media exposure drives up polarization in the rest of the public. This book didn't, and probably couldn't, cover that sort of thing.
In general I think it's worth reading this one but don't expect all your questions to be answered and in particular, don't expect to learn whether the USA is drifting inexorably down a path that will eventually lead to another civil war. Maybe it is. Maybe it isn't. You won't find the answer here.
This book was well written and very well researched. The author accomplished what he set out to do.
For that reason I've awarded this 5 stars.
That said, the book was not altogether satisfying. The author backed up his assertions with statistical evidence; however, there are only so many statistics available and this book left me with more questions than answers. In addition, while passing reference was made to Canada, the author dealt primarily with the political system in the United States.
There were a number of surprises a few of which I found questionable. While considerable polarization and partisanship was observed in elected politicians, not nearly as much was found in the general public. To a large extent this was attributed to political disinterest. If people couldn't care less about politics, it's suggested they aren't polarized. I would treat that with suspicion. However, I'm not the one running the numbers.
Another thing I found a bit frustrating was the author's focus on trends. He spends a great deal of time and effort proving that polarization forms a 'U' curve peaking in the late 1800s, dipping to a low mid century and then rising to the present. Therefore if more people are polarized now than in the past he argues that polarization is increasing, but this fails to take into account the degree. Let's suppose that on some issue, x% of the population is supportive and y% is opposed and lets suppose both x and y are large. This indicates polarization on that issue. Unfortunately it doesn't entirely take into account the degree of polarization. So lets suppose that both x and y are small, but boy, do those groups hate one another - for example White Nationalists vs Antifa. There is no good way statistically of quantifying the hatred they have for one another, yet I think it's important, first because it frequently results in violence and second because the resulting media exposure drives up polarization in the rest of the public. This book didn't, and probably couldn't, cover that sort of thing.
In general I think it's worth reading this one but don't expect all your questions to be answered and in particular, don't expect to learn whether the USA is drifting inexorably down a path that will eventually lead to another civil war. Maybe it is. Maybe it isn't. You won't find the answer here.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews