Restoring Trust in an Age of Political Polarization | Kevin Vallier

Hidden Forces

Demetri Kofinas

Business, Government

4.8 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 18 January 2021

⏱️ 59 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In Episode 175 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Kevin Vallier, an Associate Professor of Philosophy at Bowling Green State University, whose interests lie primarily in political philosophy, ethics, philosophy of religion, and economics.

In his latest book, "Trust in a Polarized Age," Kevin draws on empirical data and liberal political philosophy to demonstrate that rising levels of political polarization can be largely attributed to a multi-decade decline in trust. If we want to reduce political polarization, argues Kevin, "we have to start by rebuilding social and political trust." While this may seem like a tall order during a time in which Americans are less trusting than at any point since at least the 1960's when measurements began, the situation is not hopeless.

In this conversation we discuss the causes and consequences of declining social and political trust, the two-way relationship between trust and polarization, and what sorts of practical steps can be taken at both an individual and societal level to begin to restore faith in each other and in our political and legal institutions.

In the overtime, Kevin and Demetri touch on a number of timely topics, including concerns about domestic terrorism and the parallels that can be drawn between the early 1990's and today. One of the more interesting parts of the discussion deals with the "mainstreaming" so to speak, of conspiracy theory. Unlike in the early 1990's where domestic terror groups and individuals were motivated primarily by extreme ideological beliefs, those being monitored today, some of which were involved in the attack on the US Capitol building, combine political violence with mainstream views that are shared by a significant percentage of the American people.

You can access the second part of this conversation, as well as the transcript and rundown to this week's episode through the Hidden Forces Patreon Page. All subscribers gain access to our overtime feed, which can be easily added to your favorite podcast application.

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Producer & Host: Demetri Kofinas

Editor & Engineer: Stylianos Nicolaou

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Episode Recorded on 01/12/2021

Transcript

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0:00.0	The Hidden Forces Podcast features long-formed conversations, broken into two parts,
0:05.3	the second hour of which is made available to our premium subscribers,
0:09.3	along with transcripts and notes to each conversation.
0:13.0	For more information about how to access the episode overtime's, transcripts, and
0:17.0	rundowns, head over to patreon.com slash Hidden Forces.
0:22.0	You can also sign up to our mailing list at Hidden Forces. You can also sign up to our mailing list at Hiddenforces.io.
0:26.0	Follow us on Twitter at Hidden Forces pod and leave us a review on Apple Podcasts.
0:32.0	And with that, please enjoy this week's episode. What's up, up up everybody? My guest on this episode of Hidden Forces is Kevin Valier,
0:59.2	an associate professor of philosophy at Bowling Green State University, whose interests
1:04.3	life primarily in political philosophy, ethics, philosophy of religion, and economics.
1:10.8	In his latest book, Trust in a Polarized Age, Kevin draws on empirical data and liberal political
1:16.9	philosophy to demonstrate that rising levels of political polarization can be largely
1:22.3	attributed to a multi-decade decline in trust in each other and in our institutions. If we want to reduce the rising incidents of polarization, argues Kevin, we have to start by rebuilding social and political
1:36.7	trust.
1:37.7	And while this may seem like a tall order during a time in which Americans are less trusting than at any point since at least the 1960s
1:45.2	when measurements began. The situation is not hopeless and more importantly it's not out of
1:50.9	our hands. In this conversation we discuss the causes and consequences of
1:56.1	declining social and political trust, the two-way relationship between trust and polarization,
2:02.3	and what sorts of practical steps can be taken at both an individual
2:06.7	and societal level to begin to restore faith in not only each other, but in our political and legal institutions.
2:14.7	In the overtime, Kevin and I discuss, among other things, rising concerns about domestic terrorism
2:20.5	and the parallels that can be drawn between the early 1990s and today.
	...

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