Opinion
How to Play Our Way to a Better Democracy
— September 1, 2018

By Jonathan Haidt and Greg Lukianoff
If we “protect” kids from the small risks and harms of free play, we stunt their ability to handle challenges and recover from failures.
By Jonathan Haidt and Greg Lukianoff
When Alexis de Tocqueville toured America in 1831, he concluded that one secret of our success was our ability to solve problems collectively and cooperatively. He praised our mastery of the “art of association,” which was crucial, he believed, for a self-governing people.
In recent years, however, we have become less artful, particularly about crossing party lines. It’s not just Congress that has lost the ability to cooperate. As partisan hostility has increased, Americans report feeling fear and loathing toward people on the other side and have become increasingly less willing to date or marry someone of a different party. Some restaurants won’t serve customers who work for — or even just support — the other team or its policies. Support for democracy itself is in decline.
Read the full New York Times article.
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Jonathan Haidt is the Thomas Cooley Professor of Ethical Leadership.