Truth decayEric Oliver on the science of conspiracy theories and political polarization
The “birthers,” “Pizzagate,” anti-vaxxers. It seems that belief in conspiracy theories is on the rise. At the same time, our polarization is worse than ever. People can hardly even maintain a conversation across political or cultural lines. Could the underlying force driving conspiracy theories also be the same one that’s dividing our country?
The “birthers,” “Pizzagate,” anti-vaxxers. Since the election of Donald Trump, it’s seemed that belief in conspiracy theories is on the rise. At the same time, our polarization is worse than ever. People can hardly even maintain a conversation across political or cultural lines. Could the underlying force driving conspiracy theories also be the same one that’s dividing our country?
University of Chicago Political Science Professor Eric Oliver, who’s been studying conspiracy theories for over a decade, says his research shows how one basic tension explains both belief in conspiracy theories and our political divide. Deeper than red or blue, liberal or conservative, we’re actually divided by intuitionists and rationalists.
Oliver is the author of several books, among them Local Elections and the Politics of Small Scale Democracy (2012) and The Paradoxes of Integration: Race, Neighborhood, and Civic Life in Multi-Ethnic America (2010). In his most recent book, Enchanted America: How Intuition and Reason Divide Our Politics (2018), Oliver argues that the major political divisions in America right now are not between liberals and conservatives, but between “intuitionists” and “rationalists.” “Much of what seems bizarre about American politics today is due to this split,” he says.
Oliver’s work has been discussed, among other places, in Kurt Andersen, “How America lost its mind: The nation’s current post-truth moment is the ultimate expression of mind-sets that have made America exceptional throughout its history,” The Atlantic (September 2017); and Tom Jacobs, “Half of Americans believe at least one conspiracy theory: New research suggests the belief in unseen plots is surprisingly widespread,” Pacific Standard (14 June 2017).
In the 25th episode of the University of Chicago’s Big Brains podcast series, Paul Rand, vice president of communications at the University of Chicago, discussed conspiracy theories and political polarization with Eric Oliver.
