How Can America Depolarize? The Best 11 Ideas from Early 2021

How can America depolarize?

I searched across the web for thought leaders who can help answer this question. The links below are all from early 2021.

The topics vary widely. There is a proposal for a new civics education. Some articles draw on social science research, such as learnings from other societies that have experienced conflict.

Other topics include a new documentary attempting to bridge divides, efforts to reduce divides on college campuses, the impacts of political marketing, cancel culture in academia, and how social media can be fixed.

A Proposal for a New Civics Education

• Educating for American Democracy, Report & Roadmap
• The Harvard Gazette, Redrawing the civics education roadmap by Manisha Aggarwal-Schifellite
• The Washington Post, Opinion: Our democracy is ailing. Civics education has to be part of the cure by Danielle Allen and Paul Carrese
• PBS News Hour, Can teaching civics in schools help break down barriers in American society?

The Importance of a Shared Vision for the Future

• The Fulcrum, Required for democracy: Shared vision of the future, vision of a shared future by Lorelei Kelly, Byron Bland, Floyd Thompkins Jr. and Duncan Morrow

How to Use Conflict Resolution to Reduce Polarization

• Bridge Alliance Blog, Conflict Resolution, Close to Home by Jennifer Thompson

The Reunited States Documentary

• Beyond Conflict, The Reunited States of America: New Documentary Seeks to Bridge Political Divide by Ana Eira

Bridging Divides on College Campuses

• Let’s Find Common Ground Podcast, Depolarizing America: Bridging Divides on Campus

Lack of Support for Cancel Culture Among Academics

• Heterodox Academy, Few Academics Support Cancel Culture by Eric Kaufmann

How Political Marketing Can Lead to Group Polarization and Echo Chambers

• Psychology Today, Political Echo Chambers by Robert D. Mather Ph.D.

Better Understanding Voter Behavior

• How Do We Fix It? Podcast, #293: Understanding Us: We The People. Frank Luntz and Ethan Porter

What the New Administration Can Do

• Scientific American, Now Is the Time to Reestablish Reality by Jen Schwartz

How to Think About Crowds – Wisdom or Mass Delusion?

• Quillette, The Delusions of Crowds—A Review by Clayton Trutor

How to Fix Social Media

• How Do We Fix It? Podcast, #295 Social Media. Revolution and Reform. Sinan Aral

Jackson Lanzer is a high school senior and a young professional member of the Los Angeles World Affairs Council. He has contributed to contestedpolitics.com and is now writing depolarizing articles. His writing has been referenced in USA Today, and he has won several regional Scholastic Writing Awards. Jackson has a Center bias.

This piece was edited by News Editor Micaela Ricaforte (Center bias), and was reviewed by James Coan (Center bias). Correspondence can be directed to james@allsides.com.

Image Credit: ~jar{}/Flickr(CC BY 2.0)