Polarization

Polarization: What Everyone Needs to Know® by Nolan McCarty

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


*** 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.



View all my reviews