Kevin Vallier — Can Polarization Be Reversed?

Kevin Vallier is the author of Liberal Politics and Public Faith: Beyond Separation, Must Politics Be War?: Restoring Our Trust in Open Society, and Trust in a Polarized Age, which is the basis of this episode’s discussion. All books are available on Amazon Canada (titles hyperlinked).

Kevin talks about the two empirical literature camps on social trust: one is the economics, lab-based games of trust; the second is macro-survey data provided by institutions such as the World Values Survey, the General Social Survey, the American National Election Studies, and barometers (Afrobarometer, Eurobarometer). All names are hyperlinked.

This is a link to the Corporate Finance Institute’s overview of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.

Kevin briefly mentions the Georgia Secretary of State’s certification of the election outcome disputing voter fraud. A report of the Secretary of State’s statements can be read here.

Here is a brief overview of the contact hypothesis by the American Psychological Association, which Kevin contrasted to in the podcast with a lack of contract enforcement and the ill-definition of property titles which do not result in economic interactions being trust-building.

Kevin discusses legislation such as For the People Act of 2019 as a possible remedy to polarization. This specific Act contained legal rulings on automatic voter registration, delays in joining the private sector, and divestment requirements. It is available for reading on the United States’ Congress website at this link.