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Sociologist, writer and academic entrepreneur Ilana Redstone will present the 2024 College of Social and Behavioral Sciences (SBS) Freedman Lecture at the University of Massachusetts Amherst on Monday, April 1 at 11:30 a.m. in Room 301 of the Integrative Learning Center. The event is free and open to the public.

In her lecture, “The Certainty Trap: Democracy’s Existential Threat,” Redstone will explore how the notion of certainty drives the tendency to judge harshly, demonize and dismiss people with whom we disagree, and how that poses a threat to both aspiring and established democracies. She will examine how certainty contributes to political polarization, incivility, and a lack of viewpoint diversity and how to overcome these challenges through thinking and communicating more effectively.

Redstone is an associate professor of sociology at the University of Illinois, a founding faculty fellow at the University of Austin and faculty director of The Mill Institute. She created the Beyond Bigots and Snowflakes video series and founded Diverse Perspectives Consulting. She holds a joint doctorate in demography and sociology from the University of Pennsylvania and grew up in Amherst.

The Freedman Lecture series is funded by Robert Rosen ’69 and Nancy Rosen ’70, and is named for Nancy’s parents, Max and Ruth Freedman. Initiated in 2016, the Freedman Lecture brings scholars and practitioners to SBS to engage on contemporary societal issues from different vantage points, leaving the audience with a richer appreciation of differing viewpoints and an example of how reasonable people can disagree without being disagreeable. Previous Freedman lectures have tackled issues of immigration, universal basic income and free speech.

More information about the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences and the Freedman Lecture series can be found on the SBS website. Additional details about Redstone are available on her website.