How Media Stifles Deliberative Democracy
As outlets that welcome rational exchanges of ideas dwindle those that serve as echo chambers are exploding. What does that mean for free speech and the health of the US?
What Makes Us Vote the Way We Do?
According to some political scientists, it's more about group identity than personal interests.
Is There a Cure for Information Disorder?
Researchers are concerned not only with our exposure to mis- and disinformation but with the depth of confidence people have in their inaccurate beliefs.
Do You Trust Your Democratic Representatives?
Scholars of politics and media have been tracking an ongoing collapse of trust in representative democracy's core institutions. What's at stake?
Mad About Nixon
No other personality appeared more often on the cover of Mad during the first fifty years of the satirical magazine’s life.
When Language Goes Viral
How do innocuous words become insidious in the face of a public health emergency?
Dating Apps Are Intensifying Online Partisanship
Some social scientists argue that dating and mating patterns may be the real drivers of polarization.
To Predict the Role of Fake News in 2020, Look to Canada
Canada has taken steps to address the potential for online misinformation ("fake news") in its upcoming election, but the internet changes rapidly.
Is Alcoholism a Moral Failing?
Cultural explanations for alcoholism have changed significantly throughout the years, sometimes blaming social problems, sometimes psychological.
A Critical Theory of Binge Watching
We didn't know we loved to binge until Netflix made it irresistible. To understand the new model, we should look back to Theodor Adorno.