On Social and Intellectual Segregation

How did our country become so polarized and relatively easily swayed by identity politics? What about the resulting pandering of incessant repetition of a party position in the face of new and possibly argument changing facts? This polarization has many roots, newly exposed in the social landscape.

The historical segregation of people by ethnic group has a long history in American society, from immigrant groups populating in neighborhoods, to the structural setup of American society during slavery and its resulting population shifts during reconstruction and great migrations. The increase of different immigrant groups also contributes to changes in demographics. In the background, subcultures and secondary categorizations, such as religious affiliation clusters, specific industry clusters like Silicon Valley or Washington D.C., and others also further specialize and polarize the thoughts and social groups we are surrounded with daily.

This spatial clustering affect has allowed for greater specialization of ideas to the detriment of consensus building between these groups. It allows individuals to vet out the media and company one keeps to turn a blind eye to any views or beliefs that lie outside the individual’s belief system. This compartmentalization of thinking has gone uncorrected with the lack of consensus leadership and has pigeon-holed the understanding of complex problems. Structurally, this has led to the dependence on “market forces” to unwittingly deal with the complexities of the market, and to allow for individuals to exploit complexity for their own selfish gain. We have seen what happens when one-dimensional thinking has control of the government and deregulation is preached as the solution to market demands. Ignorance is not the solution to complex problems. The little bubbles created by history, bigotry, group migration and small short-sighted worldview must burst if we are going to fix the root of our current economic and social problems.

*inspired by the book review on december 1 in the NY Times entitled Subdivided We Fall