Please note this event occurred in the past.
October 17, 2024 11:30 am - 1:00 pm ET
Commonwealth Honors College Events Hall

Twenty-first century American politics has been tumultuous. Common explanations for America’s societal and political divide and seeming inability to act collectively include changes in media technology, elite polarization, social and ideological sorting, nationalization of institutions, and unprecedented tribal polarization. This project instead argues that the most concerning and consequential development has been a polarization around trust in scientific institutions. This has come about due to partisan realignment and resulted in two parties—who are charged with collaborating to produce collective goods—operating from entirely distinct epistemologies. 

Jamie Druckman is the Martin Brewer Anderson Professor of Political Science at the University of Rochester. He is also an Honorary Professor of Political Science at Aarhus University in Denmark. His research focuses on political preference formation and communication. His work examines how citizens make political, economic, and social decisions in various contexts (e.g., settings with multiple competing messages, online information, deliberation). He also researches the relationship between citizens' preferences and public policy and the polarization of American society. His recent book with UMass professor Elizabeth Sharrow, Equality Unfulfilled: How Title IX’s Policy Design Undermines Change to College Sports (Cambridge University Press), won the 2024 Gladys M. Kammerer Award for the best book on US national policy from the American Political Science Association.


This is an event series designed to create intellectual conversation and community support for students, staff, faculty, and community members during what is sure to be an exciting, yet nerve-racking, election cycle. We envision that each speaker’s visit and related activities will generate opportunities for our community to come together to process and engage deeply with one another over the elections and what they mean for the fundamental concept of Democracy. Visit Democracy in Troubled Times.

This event is co-sponsored by the Institute for Social Science Research