Bill Bishop

Bill Bishop. The Big Sort: Why the Clustering of Like-Minded America Is Tearing Us Apart

We have been clustering where we live (and with whom we associate) by “mixing” only with people who are already like us and who only affirm us, rather than challenge us.

Bill Bishop starts with the story of how he came to live in the same neighborhood where the Holy Cross provincial house was.

People had bumper stickers: "78704: A Way of Life." Indeed it was. Our most famous resident was Max Nofziger who sold flowers on a street corner. He ran for city council, won, and was re-elected. Others included Jim Hightower (elected as State Commissioner for Agriculture) and Molly Ivins. There was a specialty, independent coffee shop and bakery.

But "the Big Sort" is that we self-select into living with people "like us." The Big Sort, then, is not simply about political partisanship, about how Americans vote every couple of years. It is a division in what they value, in how they worship, and in what they expect out of life.

We do not come into meaningful discussion with people different from us. We never have to seriously consider a different point of view. We become more and more entrenched in our own opinions.

The bonds among people within groups are stronger. But the bonds holding the groups together are weaker. The political example is Congress. But the same can be true of a town, a school, a church, etc.





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