Mutual PersuasionI will get right to the point: We are looking at the breakdown of communication and, by extension, civility in American society. Our inability to communicate, especially with people with whom we disagree, has devolved substantially in recent years. People consider their positions too important to simply agree to disagree. Abortion and Gun Control are […]
The concept of belonging is beginning to mesh with the DEI vocabulary, and I am thrilled to see this development. Belonging, according to Cornell University is “the feeling of security and support when there is a sense of acceptance, inclusion, and identity for a member of a certain group. It is when an individual can […]
We discuss “Hold your identity up to the light” by Sarah Hartman-Caverly, using the concepts of “stasis” and Burke’s identity types to engage in mutual persuasion. Read more here.
Interview by Allison Ellsworth What would you like to share with readers about your upbringing/background? Where are you from? Where did you grow up etc? I grew up in Southern New Jersey, about 20-30 minutes outside of Philadelphia depending on where in the city one was going. My neighborhood was predominately white and anti-black racism—macroaggression, […]
Geoffrey L. Cohen’s 2022 book, Belonging: The Science of Creating Connection and Bridging Divides, offers a social-psychological perspective on something that we all struggle with at times: feeling like we belong. What I enjoyed most about Cohen’s treatment of “belonging” is how pragmatic and broad-minded it is. Rather than spend precious pages explicating a concept […]