The Trump adviser’s assertions about the “real world” reflect a deep misunderstanding of Thomas Hobbes’s dog-eat-dog worldview.
Author: Gal Beckerman | Source: The Atlantic (January 10, 2026) | Subjects: Politics & Public Policy, Psychology | Behavior
Reagan Republicans fully understood the political risks of dismantling more than 50 years of public policy, yet—more effectively than any of their predecessors—they succeeded in manufacturing the popular consent needed to do precisely that. The key to this achievement was a simple but devastating insight: The most effective way to discredit liberal social policy was to starve it of resources and then point to its … [ Read more ]
Author: Heather Ann Thompson | Source: The Atlantic (January2026) | Subjects: America, History, International, Politics & Public Policy
As the political scholars (and brothers) Hyrum and Verlan Lewis write, “ideologies do not define tribes, tribes define ideologies.” To the Lewises and likeminded social scientists, “progressivism” and “conservatism” don’t name enduring philosophies of government, so much as ever-shifting rationalizations for the interests of rival alliances.
[…]
But in the Lewises’ view, the belief that all of the left and right’s disputes reflect one essential moral … [ Read more ]
Author: Eric Levitz | Source: Vox (January 12, 2026) | Subject: Politics & Public Policy
The upside to mechanical values is that they’re easy to apply. It’s very hard to agree with other people about what counts as a full life, as great art, or as a soul-nourishing vocation. But it’s easy to agree about what leads to statistically longer lifespans, more page views and engagement hours, or more money. When we turn our values mechanical, we make it easy … [ Read more ]
Author: Christopher Thi Nguyen | Source: Vox (January 13, 2026) | Subjects: Personal Improvement, Psychology | Behavior
By the close of the 1990s the United States had become more unequal than at any other time since the dawn of the New Deal—indeed, it was the most unequal society in the advanced democratic world. The top 20 percent of households earned 56 percent of the nation’s income and commanded an astonishing 83 percent of the nation’s wealth. Even more striking, the top one … [ Read more ]
Author: Ray Boshara | Source: The Atlantic (January2003) | Subjects: Articles & Links, Economics | Economy, Excerpts, Politics & Public Policy
Within the field of moral philosophy, the main rival to deontology [the morality of an action should be based on whether that action itself is right or wrong under a series of rules, rather than based on the consequences of the action] is a school of thought known as “consequentialism.” In this view, the morality of actions must be judged by their consequences: … [ Read more ]
Author: Dylan Matthews | Source: Vox (January 27, 2020) | Subjects: Excerpts, Philosophy, Politics & Public Policy
A new book argues that the emotion happens in “micro-moments of positivity resonance.”
Author: Emily Esfahani Smith | Source: The Atlantic (January 24, 2013) | Subjects: Articles & Links, Excerpts, Life & Society, Love, Psychology | Behavior, Relationships
The election of Barack Obama is just the most startling manifestation of a larger trend: the gradual erosion of “whiteness” as the touchstone of what it means to be American. If the end of white America is a cultural and demographic inevitability, what will the new mainstream look like—and how will white Americans fit into it? What will it mean to be white when whiteness … [ Read more ]
Author: Hua Hsu | Source: The Atlantic (January2009) | Subjects: America, Excerpts, Race Relations
How has America changed since 2000?
Author: Timothy Lavin | Source: The Atlantic (January2009) | Subject: America
Who is responsible for the past eight years of dismal American governance? “George W. Bush” is a decent answer. But we should reserve some blame for the Founding Fathers, who created a presidential office that is ill-considered, vaguely defined, and ripe for abuse. Here’s how to fix what the Founders got wrong—before the next G. W. Bush enters the Oval Office.
Author: Garrett Epps | Source: The Atlantic (January2009) | Subjects: Excerpts, History, Politics & Public Policy
Minimum-wage jobs are physically demanding, have unpredictable schedules, and pay so meagerly that workers can’t save up enough to move on.
Author: Barbara Ehrenreich | Source: The Atlantic (January 13, 2014) | Subjects: Articles & Links, Economics | Economy, Excerpts, Life & Society, Politics & Public Policy
It’s the oldest story ever told. The story of belief — of the basic, irresistible, universal human need to believe in something that gives life meaning, something that reaffirms our view of ourselves, the world, and our place in it… For our minds are built for stories. We crave them, and, when there aren’t ready ones available, we create them. Stories about our origins. Our … [ Read more ]
Authors: Maria Konnikova, Maria Popova | Source: The Marginalian (Brain Pickings) (January 12, 2016) | Subjects: Articles & Links, Excerpts, Psychology | Behavior, Trust
A strong sense of conviction can both encourage and discourage people from speaking out.
Authors: Carol S. Dweck, Martin J. Smith | Source: Stanford University (January 9, 2017) | Subjects: Articles & Links, Excerpts
The world order we know is already over, and Russia is moving fast to grab the advantage. Can Trump figure out the new war in time to win it?
Author: Molly K. McKew | Source: Politico (January 1, 2017) | Subjects: Articles & Links, Excerpts, Foreign Policy, International, Politics & Public Policy
Risk perception used to be based on an analytical equation: you multiply the probability of an event by the potential damage of its outcome. But Paul Slovic, a professor of psychology at the University of Oregon, understood the powerful role of emotions in decision-making and altered that equation, noting that many things affect how we perceive risk:
Author: Jenny Anderson | Source: Quartz (January 31, 2017) | Subjects: Articles & Links, Excerpts, Fear, Psychology | Behavior, Risk
According to Emily Esfahani Smith, happiness arises from a deep sense of contentment rather than the incessant and unyielding grasping for pleasure. This contentment can be derived by seeking, cultivating, and maintaining the four pillars of meaning,
Author: Derek Beres | Source: Big Think (January 23, 2018) | Subjects: Articles & Links, Excerpts, Happiness, Meaning, Personal Improvement, Psychology | Behavior
The Strange New Pathologies of the World’s First Rich Failed State
Author: Umair Haque | Source: Eudaimonia (January 25, 2018) | Subjects: America, Articles & Links, Excerpts, International, Life & Society, Sociology | Anthropology
It took a lot to get us here. […] I’d rely on the old sociological distinction between gemeinschaft and gesellschaft. All across the world, we have masses of voters who live in a world of gemeinschaft: where relationships are personal, organic and fused by particular affections. These people define their loyalty to community, faith and nation in personal, in-the-gut sort of ways.
But we have a … [ Read more ]
Author: David Brooks | Source: The New York Times (January 20, 2017) | Subjects: Articles & Links, Excerpts, Politics & Public Policy, Trump
So that’s what we mean when we say America is exceptional. Not that our nation has been flawless from the start, but that we have shown the capacity to change, and make life better for those who follow.
Yes, our progress has been uneven. The work of democracy has always been hard, contentious and sometimes bloody. For every two steps forward, it often feels we take … [ Read more ]
Authors: Barack Obama, Darlene Superville, Josh Lederman | Source: PBS NewsHour (January 10, 2017) | Subjects: Articles & Links, Excerpts, People, Politics & Public Policy
“There’s a magical thinking among business executives that something about the profit motive makes everything run better,” noted Raymond Fisman, a professor of economics at Boston University. […] A serious body of economics, not to mention reams of evidence from decades of privatizations around the world, suggests this belief is false.
[…]
Of course, the government can also do a horrible job of running things. And private … [ Read more ]
Author: Eduardo Porter | Source: The New York Times (January 10, 2017) | Subjects: Articles & Links, Economics | Economy, Excerpts, Politics & Public Policy