Oregon Humanities

Democracy and The Big Sort

I’m reading Bill Bishop’s The Big Sort: Why the Clustering of Like-Minded America is Tearing Us Apart. I’d been meaning to pick this book up for about a year now and, as soon as I did, it felt immediately “familiar.”

Bishop starts by recounting his experience of choosing Austin, Texas, as his home. He explains that this was not an overtly political decision. He and his wife just wanted to live where they “fit in.” They wanted a “high-quality” life. These factors (“fit” and “quality”) are what initially drew me to Oregon and, more specifically, to Portland. I moved here in my late 20s, seeking “the good life.” I wanted good friends and a community who would support me in living a full life, as well as an inspired, engaged, creative, sustainable, fun, and philanthropic life. I guess I was looking for people like me.

I didn’t realize at the time that I was part of a significant American trend. From the mid 1970s through 2004 Americans were engaged in what Bishop calls the big sort—a movement toward a more homogeneous way of living. The fact is that in the last thirty years there has been a polarization taking place that is immediately transparent among political leaders, but also reinforced by the economy, as well as religious and civic institutions. Bishop argues that this shift is made manifest in our geography and where we are living. Our migrations are not simply about political partisanship but about a division in what we value, how we worship, and what we expect out of life.

I’m interested in the fact that Americans have made an unconscious decision to cluster in communities of like-mindedness. And I think that this deserves some examination: Why are we like this? How is this different from the ethnic enclaves of the early twentieth century? How do we grow and evolve socially and intellectually if we’re isolating ourselves from difference? Is the current environment of ever-present divisiveness (made apparent in the health care debates) our politicians’ fault . . . or is it our fault?

I’ve been in discussions with our federal legislators about this phenomenon. (It’s the time of year again when state humanities councils are actively lobbying Congress to maintain our small piece of the federal budget so that we can keep serving our constituents.) While they believe the media have made congressional debates and dialogues seem more divisive than they actually are, these legislators are also extremely concerned about the entrenched positions we seem to be inhabiting.

What to do? Well, I don’t have the answer. But one way to combat entrenched thinking is to “get out there.” It’s easy for me—all I have to do is attend an Oregon Humanities Think & Drink or Conversation Project program, which both invite the public to think and talk together. As a soft plug, I would certainly recommend that you check out these and our other programs. But, short of providing a solution to this problem—and let’s be clear here, I really don’t have a solution—all I can do is wonder about democracy. A nation of self-focused collectives doesn’t sound democratic to me. It’s an uncomfortable tension, don’t you think?

About Cara Ungar-Gutierrez

Cara Ungar-Gutierrez is the executive director of Oregon Humanities.

15 April 2010 | Posted by Cara Ungar-Gutierrez in Inside O. Hm. New Ideas
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