Segregation sux...

[Winslowalrob]

according to the Economist:

http://www.economist.com/world/na/displaystory.cfm?story_id=11581447

Political segregation

The Big Sort

Jun 19th 2008 | BETHESDA, MARYLAND, AND MCLEAN, VIRGINIA

From The Economist print edition

Americans are increasingly choosing to live among like-minded neighbours. This makes the culture war more bitter and politics harder

SOME folks in Texas recently decided to start a new community “containing 100% Ron Paul supporters”. Mr Paul is a staunch libertarian and, until recently, a Republican presidential candidate. His most ardent fans are invited to build homesteads in “Paulville”, an empty patch of west Texas. Here, they will be free. Free not to pay “for other people's lifestyles [they] may not agree with”. And free from the irksome society of those who do not share their love of liberty.

Cynics chuckle, and even Mr Paul sounds unenthusiastic about the Paulville project, in which he had no hand. But his followers' desire to segregate themselves is not unusual. Americans are increasingly forming like-minded clusters. Conservatives are choosing to live near other conservatives, and liberals near liberals.

A good way to measure this is to look at the country's changing electoral geography. In 1976 Jimmy Carter won the presidency with 50.1% of the popular vote. Though the race was close, some 26.8% of Americans were in “landslide counties” that year, where Mr Carter either won or lost by 20 percentage points or more.

The proportion of Americans who live in such landslide counties has nearly doubled since then. In the dead-heat election of 2000, it was 45.3%. When George Bush narrowly won re-election in 2004, it was a whopping 48.3%. As the playwright Arthur Miller put it that year: “How can the polls be neck and neck when I don't know one Bush supporter?” Clustering is how.

County-level data understate the degree of ideological segregation, reckons Bill Bishop, the author of a gripping new book called “The Big Sort: Why the Clustering of Like-Minded America is Tearing Us Apart”. Counties can be big. Cook County, Illinois, (which includes Chicago), has over 5m inhabitants. Beaverhead County, Montana, covers 5,600 square miles (14,400 square kilometres). The neighbourhoods people care about are much smaller.

Americans move house often, usually for practical reasons. Before choosing a new neighbourhood, they drive around it. They notice whether it has gun shops, evangelical churches and “W” bumper stickers, or yoga classes and organic fruit shops. Perhaps unconsciously, they are drawn to places where they expect to fit in.

Where you live is partly determined by where you can afford to live, of course. But the “Big Sort” does not seem to be driven by economic factors. Income is a poor predictor of party preference in America; cultural factors matter more. For Americans who move to a new city, the choice is often not between a posh neighbourhood and a run-down one, but between several different neighbourhoods that are economically similar but culturally distinct.

For example, someone who works in Washington, DC, but wants to live in a suburb can commute either from Maryland or northern Virginia. Both states have equally leafy streets and good schools. But Virginia has plenty of conservative neighbourhoods with megachurches and Bu****es you've heard of living on your block. In the posh suburbs of Maryland, by contrast, Republicans are as rare as unkempt lawns and yard signs proclaim that war is not the answer but Barack Obama might be.

At a bookshop in Bethesda (one of those posh Maryland suburbs), Steven Balis, a retired lawyer with wild grey hair and a scruffy T-shirt, looks up from his New York Times. He says he is a Democrat because of “the absence of alternatives”. He comes from a family of secular Jews who supported the New Deal. He holds “positive notions of what government actions can accomplish”. Asked why he moved to Maryland rather than Virginia, he jokes that the far side of the river is “Confederate territory”. Asked if he has hard-core social-conservative acquaintances, he answers simply: “No.”

Groupthink

Because Americans are so mobile, even a mild preference for living with like-minded neighbours leads over time to severe segregation. An accountant in Texas, for example, can live anywhere she wants, so the liberal ones move to the funky bits of Austin while the more conservative ones prefer the exurbs of Dallas. Conservative Californians can find refuge in Orange County or the Central Valley.

Over time, this means Americans are ever less exposed to contrary views. In a book called “Hearing the Other Side”, Diana Mutz of the University of Pennsylvania crunched survey data from 12 countries and found that Americans were the least likely of all to talk about politics with those who disagreed with them.

Intriguingly, the more educated Americans become, the more insular they are. (Hence Mr Miller's confusion.) Better-educated people tend to be richer, so they have more choice about where they live. And they are more mobile. One study that covered most of the 1980s and 1990s found that 45% of young Americans with a college degree moved state within five years of graduating, whereas only 19% of those with only a high-school education did.

There is a danger in this. Studies suggest that when a group is ideologically homogeneous, its members tend to grow more extreme. Even clever, fair-minded people are not immune. Cass Sunstein and David Schkade, two academics, found that Republican-appointed judges vote more conservatively when sitting on a panel with other Republicans than when sitting with Democrats. Democratic judges become more liberal when on the bench with fellow Democrats.

Residential segregation is not the only force Balkanising American politics, frets Mr Bishop. Multiple cable channels allow viewers to watch only news that reinforces their prejudices. The internet offers an even finer filter. Websites such as conservativedates.com or democraticsingles.net help Americans find ideologically predictable mates.

And the home-schooling movement, which has grown rapidly in recent decades, shields more than 1m American children from almost any ideas their parents dislike. Melynda Wortendyke, a devout Christian who teaches all six of her children at her home in Virginia, says she took her eldest out of public kindergarten because she thought the standards there were low, but also because the kids were exposed to a book about lesbian mothers.

“We now live in a giant feedback loop,” says Mr Bishop, “hearing our own thoughts about what's right and wrong bounced back to us by the television shows we watch, the newspapers and books we read, the blogs we visit online, the sermons we hear and the neighbourhoods we live in.”

Shouting at each other

One might ask: so what? If people are happier living with like-minded neighbours, why shouldn't they? No one is obviously harmed. Mr Bishop does not, of course, suggest curbing Americans' right to freedom of association. But he worries about some of its consequences.

Voters in landslide districts tend to elect more extreme members of Congress. Moderates who might otherwise run for office decide not to. Debates turn into shouting matches. Bitterly partisan lawmakers cannot reach the necessary consensus to fix long-term problems such as the tottering pensions and health-care systems.

America, says Mr Bishop, is splitting into “balkanised communities whose inhabitants find other Americans to be culturally incomprehensible.” He has a point. Republicans who never meet Democrats tend to assume that Democrats believe more extreme things than they really do, and vice versa. This contributes to the nasty tone of many political campaigns.

Mr Bishop goes too far, however, when he says the “big sort” is “tearing [America] apart”. American politics may be polarised, but at least no one is coming to blows over it. “We respect each other's views,” says Mrs Wortendyke of the few liberals in the home-schooling movement. “We hate each other cordially,” says the liberal Mr Balis.

I will say that its taken me completely by surprise that this sort of thinking has only recently begun to be researched. I have known that living with people that think like you all the time and shunning those that do not is idiotic, but what do I know? Gerrymandering and racial resegregation sure are not helping things either...

[zoony]

obviously the author isn't familiar with the es tailgate, where liberals and conservatives scream at each other everyday

great article though, I enjoyed reading it. Definitely something to think about.

[One Shot]

I think there is a lot of truth to this article. People are becoming much more divided by beliefs now than ever. I think, until recently, it was kind of gray area....what you believed in, that is. Now it's so defined, you're either liberal or conservative and propaganda is a ****ing force now with newspapers, television, and internet.

[Winslowalrob]

obviously the author isn't familiar with the es tailgate, where liberals and conservatives scream at each other everyday

great article though, I enjoyed reading it. Definitely something to think about.

I will point the Economist here in due time

[DjTj]

I'm not entirely sure this is a bad thing.

One might ask: so what? If people are happier living with like-minded neighbours, why shouldn't they? No one is obviously harmed. Mr Bishop does not, of course, suggest curbing Americans' right to freedom of association. But he worries about some of its consequences.

We have arrived here out of our own free will; this is the result of increased mobility and a free market in housing that allows everyone to live where they want. The political parties have polarized us this way because it has proven to be the best way for them to consolidate power. We segregate because it is more desirable, because it is more efficient, and because it is what we have chosen to do.

obviously the author isn't familiar with the es tailgate, where liberals and conservatives scream at each other everyday

The market also provides venues for diversity. The Tailgate is such a place, and there are many others on the internet, just as there are intensely partisan blogs and message boards.

Universities and corporations seek diversity in various ways, and although we elect many extremist representatives, the most successful legislators are those willing to compromise.

Forces push in both directions, and there are benefits of being among like-minded people just as there are benefits in diversity. Hopefully we can strike the right balance.

[Winslowalrob]

I'm not entirely sure this is a bad thing. We have arrived here out of our own free will; this is the result of increased mobility and a free market in housing that allows everyone to live where they want. The political parties have polarized us this way because it has proven to be the best way for them to consolidate power. We segregate because it is more desirable, because it is more efficient, and because it is what we have chosen to do.

The market also provides venues for diversity. The Tailgate is such a place, and there are many others on the internet, just as there are intensely partisan blogs and message boards.

Universities and corporations seek diversity in various ways, and although we elect many extremist representatives, the most successful legislators are those willing to compromise.

Forces push in both directions, and there are benefits of being among like-minded people just as there are benefits in diversity. Hopefully we can strike the right balance.

The danger, which is something I believe many of us have experienced first-hand, is that this selected segregation produces an oppositional tribalism. Not only do I live with "my people", but my lack of contact with "those m@th3r#$%^ers" leads me to create a whole bunch of straw-men and assume that "those m@th3r#$%^ers" are more monolithic and evil than they really are. This of course leads us not simply to notice that our society is more polarized but asks the more difficult question: just what in the hell can we do about it? Living with the people you want to is YOUR choice, and short of heavy-handed government intervention, there is not a lot that can be done about it. Your social encounters are part of an ongoing education, and ideally one should be taught to be civil and respectful of everyone. That usually does not happen when you never get a chance for real interactions with "those m@th3r#$%^ers".

Besides, "diverse" universities are amongst the most segregated places I have ever visited, and they produce far greater lunatic political entities.

[DjTj]

The danger, which is something I believe many of us have experienced first-hand, is that this selected segregation produces an oppositional tribalism. Not only do I live with "my people", but my lack of contact with "those m@th3r#$%^ers" leads me to create a whole bunch of straw-men and assume that "those m@th3r#$%^ers" are more monolithic and evil than they really are. This of course leads us not simply to notice that our society is more polarized but asks the more difficult question: just what in the hell can we do about it? Living with the people you want to is YOUR choice, and short of heavy-handed government intervention, there is not a lot that can be done about it. Your social encounters are part of an ongoing education, and ideally one should be taught to be civil and respectful of everyone. That usually does not happen when you never get a chance for real interactions with "those m@th3r#$%^ers".

I'm not sure I really agree. I have seen a lot of strawmen used here in the Tailgate, or on Cable TV news, talk radio, and blogs, and there is a playground for partisanship where opponents are referred to as mother****ers ... but I have never seen that happen in real life between two people outside of the political arena. People are generally civil and respectful of others, and they learn those manners while dealing primarily with people they can get along with.

It's hard to call someone a mother****er to their face, especially over politics. Maybe political segregation causes a lot of talking behind peoples' backs, but I'm not sure it really makes people less civil in real life.

Besides, "diverse" universities are amongst the most segregated places I have ever visited, and they produce far greater lunatic political entities.

Perhaps in that way, universities are a microcosm of the real world ... but there are many forced interactions in universities where students are exposed to real diversity. The randomly-assigned freshman-year roommate, the teammate on the track team, the classmate in the small seminar ... it's almost impossible not to run into someone in college that comes from a very different place than you did.

Universities also allow for the creation of clubs and associations that can be far more extreme than in the outside world (mostly just because everyone has so much time on their hands), but that is part of diversity too ... exposure to different ideas isn't always a moderating influence; some people are drawn together while others are pushed apart. (When immigrants move into a community, do people become pro-immigrant or anti-immigrant?)

I don't think there is an easy solution ... we can provide avenues for diversity and avenues for segregation. People will choose the direction they want to go.

[Winslowalrob]

I just kill all people different than me

[Thiebear]

I live in N va Liberalville.

My vote is crap.

Every other sticker has impeach on its electric ass.

[mardi gras skin]

The danger, which is something I believe many of us have experienced first-hand, is that this selected segregation produces an oppositional tribalism. Not only do I live with "my people", but my lack of contact with "those m@th3r#$%^ers" leads me to create a whole bunch of straw-men and assume that "those m@th3r#$%^ers" are more monolithic and evil than they really are. This of course leads us not simply to notice that our society is more polarized but asks the more difficult question: just what in the hell can we do about it? Living with the people you want to is YOUR choice, and short of heavy-handed government intervention, there is not a lot that can be done about it. Your social encounters are part of an ongoing education, and ideally one should be taught to be civil and respectful of everyone. That usually does not happen when you never get a chance for real interactions with "those m@th3r#$%^ers".

Besides, "diverse" universities are amongst the most segregated places I have ever visited, and they produce far greater lunatic political entities.

I absolutely agree. Its a lot harder to look down your noses at "those people" when you interact together in real life situations on a regular basis.

[twa]

I live in N va Liberalville.

My vote is crap.

Every other sticker has impeach on its electric ass.

I live in a Dem district as well,I like to think I add flavor to their dreary insular lives.

[Zen-like Todd]

My first thought is that the landslide districts may simply be a result of gerrymandering.

[techboy]

My first thought is that the landslide districts may simply be a result of gerrymandering.

They wouldn't be able to gerrymander if there weren't groups that had already segregated themselves to some extent making themselves gerrymanderable (if that wasn't a word, it is now .

[Zen-like Todd]

They wouldn't be able to gerrymander if there weren't groups that had already segregated themselves to some extent making themselves gerrymanderable (if that wasn't a word, it is now .

Sure, but the growth in landslide districts could easily be a direct result of gerrymandering during that period of time, meaning no real change in self segregation.