Authors Meet Critics: Theiss-Morse and Spinner-Halev's "Respect and Loathing in American Democracy"

Session Submission Type: Author meet critics

Session Description

Respect is in trouble. Respect and Loathing in American Democracy (University of Chicago, 2024) brings together a political theorist (Spinner-Halev) and a political psychologist (Theiss-Morse) to examine democratic respect through national surveys, focus groups, survey experiments, and the views of political theorists. On this panel, leading scholars from both political philosophy and political psychologist will the weigh the implications of this truly path-breaking and interdisciplinary book.

Many Americans think that respecting other citizens is a virtue of a democratic society, yet many struggle to respect opposing partisans. It is especially liberal citizens, who hold respect as central to their robust view of democratic equality, who struggle the most to grant respect to others. Egalitarian theorists sing paeans about the importance of respect but say little about the conditions that make respect possible or the trade-offs between respect and other values. Political scientists study tolerance, not respect, and they rarely study how democratic citizens view each other as fellow citizens, which is at the center of democratic respect.

Respect and Loathing in American Democracy demonstrates that Democrats and Republicans are less divided than many believe, but they alienate one another because they moralize different issues. Liberals moralize social justice, conservatives champion national solidarity, and this worldview divide makes it difficult to respect anyone who disagrees. While respect is both far-reaching and vital to a democratic system, it is much harder to grant than many theorists recognize. If people believe that achieving social justice or national solidarity demands action from all Americans, then they readily disrespect anyone who shirks their collective responsibility. This book examines the importance of respect, the tensions between justice and respect, and a theoretical path forward that is challenging but far from impossible for political theorists and citizens to traverse.

Sub Unit

• Division 3: Normative Theory

Chair

• Alexander Kirshner Duke University

Presenters

• Anna Stilz Princeton University

• Diana C. Mutz University of Pennsylvania

• Clarissa Rile Hayward Washington University in St. Louis

• Matthew Wright University of British Columbia

• Jeff Spinner-Halev University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

• Elizabeth Theiss-Morse University of Nebraska-Lincoln