The untold story of why America is so culturally and politically dividedAmerica may be more diverse than ever coast to coast, but the places where ...
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Jul 20, 2008
Aaron
rated it: 
Call it the "Election 2000" riddle: How is it that the country can be so fatally, psychotically split between the two irreconcilable extremes of Bush and Gore when everyone I know - literally everyone - is a Gore supporter except for my grandparents in Kerrville, TX, who took the Hobbit away from me when I was seven years old because they thought it was Satanic? The Big Sort suggests that for the first time in American history, the average person has the ability to choose where they
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Oct 03, 2008
Arghhh :( this book is depressing me. I made it to chapter two, and then I realized, maybe it is not a good idea for me to read this right now, as the presidential election is using up enough of my political brain for the time being. I wish there were an answer to the party sorting this book chronicles. We need to be more open to listening to other viewpoints, and not just dismissing them summarily or tuning out because we don't agree or yelling over them so we cannot hear their thoughts. I
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Sep 28, 2008
Kurt
rated it: 
Discusses the recent geographic re-alignment of Americans in the past 25 or so years and how political parties have either benefited or lost from this realignment.
The book was spot-on with the social realignments that have been sweeping the country. I have experienced this phenomenon myself at both the macro and micro level. The book went into grave detail with the various causes of the re-alignment and provided proof with many examples. However, in the end I was looking for More...
The book was spot-on with the social realignments that have been sweeping the country. I have experienced this phenomenon myself at both the macro and micro level. The book went into grave detail with the various causes of the re-alignment and provided proof with many examples. However, in the end I was looking for More...
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Nov 19, 2008
Grace
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1. Is it better for a child to demonstrate independence or respect for elders?
2. Obedience or self-reliance?
3. Curiosity or good manners?
4. To be considerate or well behaved?
If you chose respect, obedience, good manners, and being well behaved, you have an authoritarian parenting style and you likely vote Republican.
If you chose independence, self-reliance, curiosity, and being considerate, you have a nurturant parenting style and you likely More...
2. Obedience or self-reliance?
3. Curiosity or good manners?
4. To be considerate or well behaved?
If you chose respect, obedience, good manners, and being well behaved, you have an authoritarian parenting style and you likely vote Republican.
If you chose independence, self-reliance, curiosity, and being considerate, you have a nurturant parenting style and you likely More...
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Dec 01, 2008
Spencer
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in 1976, 26% of americans lived in landslide counties (counties where the election was won or lost by a 20% margin). By the 2008 election, that had grown to 48%. Bill Bishop argues that in the U.S. in the last generation there has been an enormous restructuring/migration/resorting of America according to values/lifestyle. That age, class, race, gender, are ideology revealing common denominators which are useless compared to county, zipcode, and neighborhood. There is no wage advantage to liv
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Feb 15, 2010
Alan
rated it: 
Maybe because it's part of my job to understand how people think or what drives them to make certain decisions that The Big Sort has had such a big impact on my thinking.
Its thesis, in brief, is this: Since the 1970s, tens of millions of Americans have packed up and moved, largely for jobs. And when they do, they settle in neighborhoods where pretty nearly everyone is just like them: same outlook, same political leanings, same church-going habits (or not), same education level, same More...
Its thesis, in brief, is this: Since the 1970s, tens of millions of Americans have packed up and moved, largely for jobs. And when they do, they settle in neighborhoods where pretty nearly everyone is just like them: same outlook, same political leanings, same church-going habits (or not), same education level, same More...
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Oct 14, 2008
Lisa
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I found this book fascinating. The premise is that Americans have been moving into more and more homogenous neighborhoods and cities over the past 30+ years. College educated people move to certain cities, Democrats are more likely to live in certain places, Republicans in others. Bishop's theory is that this polarizes is even further, as we become more extreme when surrounded by only like-minded individuals.
It was an interesting read, particularly in our current political climate.
It was an interesting read, particularly in our current political climate.
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Jan 02, 2010
Carole
rated it:
I'm really glad I read this book. It gave me a lot to think about.
It's about how people have a natural tendancy to want to associate with like-minded people - "people like us." Over the past 50 years, it has become more and more possible to associate exclusively with people who share our political and religious opinions and values by choosing where we will live, what church we attend, where we get our news, and so forth. As a result of sorting ourselves into these extremely More...
It's about how people have a natural tendancy to want to associate with like-minded people - "people like us." Over the past 50 years, it has become more and more possible to associate exclusively with people who share our political and religious opinions and values by choosing where we will live, what church we attend, where we get our news, and so forth. As a result of sorting ourselves into these extremely More...
Jun 19, 2009
Brian
rated it:
Reflecting on the adage that all politics are local, Bill Bishop writes a detailed cultural, political and psychological analysis as to why Americans believe the things they do, vote they way they do, pray the way they do and buy the things they do. In The Big Sort, Bishop collaborates with a sociologist to understand why are cities are crumbling, our suburbs are gated and our politics are some of the most polarized they have been in generations. The Big Sort contains a wealth of statistical dat
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Apr 18, 2011
Benjamin
rated it:
I had to read this because I assigned it to my students to read this week and because the author is coming to visit my class next week. It's a great book on understanding the nature of political polarization in the American public and in our political institutions. The author is a journalist, but he bases his arguments on sociological and political science research. His basic argument (which is supported independently by a number of other studies done in the last few years) is that our political
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Apr 24, 2009
Nigel
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READ THIS BOOK. I mean.. if, like me, you have a penchant for reading geeky, wonky political books that try to analyze where our nation is politically and how we got this way, this is one you can't miss.
Essentially, Bishop starts with the generally-undisputed observation that our politics have become increasingly polarized (our President's repeated pleas for Hope and Change not withstanding). In Congress, especially, Republicans are REALLY conservative, and the moderate Dems are fe More...
Essentially, Bishop starts with the generally-undisputed observation that our politics have become increasingly polarized (our President's repeated pleas for Hope and Change not withstanding). In Congress, especially, Republicans are REALLY conservative, and the moderate Dems are fe More...
Dec 11, 2011
James
rated it:
Perhaps the BEST book I have read to date on the current partisan/social divide in this country, how people are in essence "sorting" themselves to live and increasingly only interact with like-minded individuals. The more the camps self-segregate, the more the positions harden and this leads to more and more rigid and perhaps extreme positions - and views on the other side. The death of the moderate, this hyper-partisanship, combined with a black/white religious view has made our pol
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Aug 19, 2011
Ssjustice
rated it:
If the Debt Ceiling Debacle made you wonder why politicians can't work together to solve our country's problems, this book provides a very plausible explanation. The author says that, over the past 30+ years, Americans have sorted themselves politically, geographically, and economically into like-minded, almost tribal, communities that have no knowledge of how the other "tribe" lives. This clustering into "homogeneous units," because of group dynamics, leads to increasing p
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Apr 29, 2011
Cindy
rated it:
This book is part of the Civility Series being presented by the Community Foundation of Greater Des Moines. The author will be at Sheslow Auditorium at Drake University on Sept 18. Mr. Bishop has great insight into the self-selection of modern America that has led to the polarization of politics, the segregation of churches, and the economic imbalances seen among suburbs and urban areas.
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Feb 11, 2009
Sandy
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I like to mix it up with people who do not share my worldview. If Bill Bishop is right, this makes me an American oddity.
According to this book, since the 1960s, Americans have been sorting themselves out into like-minded tribal communities, whose members reinforce one another's already-existing views, attitudes, and prejudices. The end product of this "Big Sort" is an increasingly polarized body politic, more ideologically pure parties, the urban-rural electoral split I More...
According to this book, since the 1960s, Americans have been sorting themselves out into like-minded tribal communities, whose members reinforce one another's already-existing views, attitudes, and prejudices. The end product of this "Big Sort" is an increasingly polarized body politic, more ideologically pure parties, the urban-rural electoral split I More...
Aug 21, 2009
Jacob
rated it: 
Intriguing title, disappointing delivery... where do I start?
Perhaps with the first 250 (of 300) pages, which repeats the same thing three or four times. There's a "Big Sort" going on, and it's suspicious. The author (barely) managed to convince me, but that doesn't mean I want to be convinced several times. This section should have been 100, 150 pages max.
The real decent ideas about why sorting ourselves into homogeneous groups is meaningful doesn't occur un More...
Perhaps with the first 250 (of 300) pages, which repeats the same thing three or four times. There's a "Big Sort" going on, and it's suspicious. The author (barely) managed to convince me, but that doesn't mean I want to be convinced several times. This section should have been 100, 150 pages max.
The real decent ideas about why sorting ourselves into homogeneous groups is meaningful doesn't occur un More...
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Feb 05, 2010
Angel
rated it: 
The book's basic premise of how people sort themselves out by their politics, or to better put it, seeking out others who share their same views, is an interesting idea. It is also an idea that can help explain what we see in the United States as a red and blue divide. Bishop's books is well-researched, so it has that going for it looking over things like Census records and Pew studies, two examples of reputable sources. However, this book is extremely dry to read. The first three chapters are p
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Jul 28, 2011
The premise: since the 1960s, Americans have been self-selecting themselves into more and more isolated groups of like-minded individuals, both on the Left and the Right, as a result of peoples' cultural preferences. As a result, people of different minds mix less with each other, so a Democrat may be able to legitimately say "How can anyone not like this policy/disagree with this/think otherwise? I don't know ANYONE who doesn't think X, Y, or Z", as can a Republican--and they can both
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Feb 05, 2009
Jeanne
rated it:
I was somewhat familiar with Bill Bishop's argument, having read his stories & blogs, spoken with him a few times, and even heard him on NPR, so I was surprised by how much more powerful the argument was when organized into the coherent structure of this book. I'm still pondering the notion of whether we can make certain types of social change - to our schools for instance - if we are hellbound to microsort ourselves into communities of likeminded individuals, and if such democratic institutions
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May 25, 2009
Lynn
rated it:
The author writes from the assumption that the "clustering" of like-minded people is tearing apart America. The interesting premise is he views people with similar values and beliefs clustering "together" is almost "something new"; whereas I believe this is the history of humanity. He has filled the book with studies which show and reveal interesting American tendencies now "more clustering and more exclusion" (you can skip read these.) If you're intere
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Feb 05, 2010
Alice
rated it:
Guilty as charged! One of the reasons I picked Portland was because the people here were "more like me". My whole life I'd been in the minority - a liberal living in a conservative community. I'm much more comfortable here. I think the author makes some very valid points about how this self-sorting is destroying the legislative process. Elected officials either represent the far right wing or the left wing. There's no in-between among the elected officials, so there's no reason t
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Sep 28, 2009
Lindsay
rated it:
This book is about the unintended consequences of small decisions. You move to a town because it's where the best employers for your skills are. A ruthless 1990 ad by a congressman changes how representatives act. And the next thing you know, the country has changed...
Merged review:
I've got a full review of this on my blog. A fascinating, well-researched and controversial hypothesis, but no suggestion as to how to get ourselves out of this mess, so only 3 stars. More...
Merged review:
I've got a full review of this on my blog. A fascinating, well-researched and controversial hypothesis, but no suggestion as to how to get ourselves out of this mess, so only 3 stars. More...
Feb 14, 2009
John finished this extraordinary book. I am in the process now. How we identify in small groups or cells is tearing us apart. Identifying with people who agree with you....the democratic process breaks down which could distroy freedoms in general. All different philosophies are important and negotiations break down without this ability. Well written and in depth. One has to think. Polorization of people. Should appeal to anyone here in the United States and gives insights to where to fro
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Feb 25, 2009
Melani
rated it:
An interesting book in some respects about the ways that prosperity and human nature have had their effect on the shape of society in the last 30 years. The basic premise, as I understood it, is that americans have self selected themselves into many communities of like-minded people. This self selection manifests itself not only in cities and neighborhoods, but also in churches -- and has an impact on the way people vote, etc. He goes on to site research that shows that as people continually
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Jun 18, 2011
Dmdutcher
rated it:
Interesting premise, bland book. Most of it is data about how people tend to cluster together with like people, and how that leads to a lack of moderation. However some data really doesn't mesh well: if the variance between areas is all of 10%, is that really a sort? Also, he doesn't give any solutions, or analyze it as opposed to just add data and stories about historical events. It would have been better if he had kept the anecdotal approach in the first chapter. I don't really recommend this
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Mar 18, 2009
Rachel
rated it:
I love these types of books! In the Big Sort Bishop analyzes the reverse melting pot that has been happening in America during the last 30 years. The idea is that while diversity is becoming more accepted, we are also becoming more isolated. Instead of mingling together we are moving to areas with only like-minded people. As someone who lives in Utah surrounded by the same I found this fascinating. I can see the Big Sort in my family. I am Mormon and I live in Utah. My brother lives a modern
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Jan 15, 2009
Elaine
rated it:
One of those books that colors the way you think about almost everything else. Great expansion of a social science/journalism project on mobility and politics, as Americans cluster into like-minded communities. Includes plenty on the psychological problems of groups that are too similar. Explains a lot about my lefty neighborhood, too, I think, and the occasional feeling of unreality looking at other parts of the country. I'm taking it as a call to diversify my viewpoint a little. (Thus the Scot
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Mar 17, 2011
Jim
rated it:
I picked this book up by accident when trying to order “The Big Short” and was pleasantly surprised. The premise of the author is that people within affluent countries are self-sorting into like-minded communities and that this trend is ultimately bad for our ability to have reasonable disagreements and open-minded discussions on policy. He sites his own situation living in liberal Austin surrounded by conservative Texas as the starting point for his query into the roots and trends of American d
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Feb 20, 2011
Jason
rated it:
I'll add more to this review once I get a chance to think more about the book.
Cover-to-cover, this is one of the most interesting books I have read in the past few years. It explains the trends and forces shaping society and politics over the last 30 years in a very comprehensive way. This book may be less interesting to sociology or American society now-it-alls because some of the theoretical explanations may be known, i.e. people familiar with microtargeting in advertising and pol More...
Cover-to-cover, this is one of the most interesting books I have read in the past few years. It explains the trends and forces shaping society and politics over the last 30 years in a very comprehensive way. This book may be less interesting to sociology or American society now-it-alls because some of the theoretical explanations may be known, i.e. people familiar with microtargeting in advertising and pol More...
Feb 03, 2012
Patrick
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