We're currently hosting our discussions at Café Walnut, near the corner of 7th & Walnut in Olde City, just across the street from Washington Square Park. The cafe's entrance is below street level down some stairs, which can be confusing if it's your first time. Our group meets in the large room upstairs.
Since we're using the cafe's space, they ask that each person attending the meetup at least purchase a drink or snack. Please don't bring any food or drinks from outside. If you're hungry enough to eat a meal, they have more substantial fare such as salads, soups & sandwiches which are pretty good and their prices are reasonable.
The cafe is fairly easy to get to if you're using public transit. With SEPTA, take the Market-Frankford Line & get off at the 5th Street Station (corner of 5th & Market), and walk 2 blocks south on 5th and then turn right on Walnut Street and walk 2 blocks west. With PATCO, just get off at the 9th-10th & Locust stop and walk 3 blocks east & 1 block north. For those who are driving, parking in the neighborhood can be tough to find. If you can't find a spot on the street, I'd suggest parking in the Washington Square parking deck at 249 S 6th Street which is just a half block away.
ARE COASTAL ELITES LIVING IN A "BUBBLE"? ANALYZING CRITIQUES OF ELITE SEGREGATION & ECHO CHAMBERS
INTRODUCTION:
In our last discussion on the "Liberal International Order", I mentioned there was a Munk debate on the subject that featured the British historian Niall Ferguson & Indian-American political scientist Fareed Zakaria. Ferguson argued that Zakaria couldn't see free trade's negative effects on Middle America because he lived in a "bubble" along with other "coastal elites". Then last week, both David Brooks & Adam Gopnick came to the Free Library of Philadelphia to promote their new books, and I noticed some negative reviews that referred to them as out-of-touch "coastal elites" who couldn't understand that our current political problems demand something more than "bland centrism".
So is it true that "coastal elites" are living in a "bubble" that separates them from their fellow Amercans? And if so, what effects does this have on American politics?
In the first half of this discussion, we'll look at arguments about the effects of the segregation of the broad class of "coastal elites" - i.e. the upper-middle & upper classes of the Northeast & West Coast - from both the poorer residents in their cities and the rural & suburban Americans of "Middle America". In Part 1, we'll look at Bill Bishop's "Big Sort" theory and Richard Florida's concept of a "New Urban Crisis" brought on by urban gentrification. Then in Part 2, we'll look at how the economist Tyler Cowen & the sociologist Charles Murray think the residential & cultural segregation of urban elites has negative social effects.
In the second half, we'll look at arguments related to an alleged ideological bubble around the coastal elites' narrow class of pundits, journalists & academics that creates blind spots in their political views. In Part 3, we'll review Jack Shafer's analysis of the "liberal media bubble" and Sam Abrams work on the "blue shift" in academia over the last 30 years. Then in Part 4, we'll look at critiques of the center-right & center-left wings of the pundit class from Paul Krugman & Nicholas Nassim Taleb, both of whom allege that their opponents are stuck in ideological "eecho chambers".
RELEVANT MATERIAL FROM PAST MEETUPS:
Back in August of 2016, we had a meetup entitled "Globalism vs Nationalism" where we discussed essays by Michael Lind & Jonathan Haidt that suggested American politics was becoming increasingly divided into urban elites that favored globalization, a neoliberal welfare state & secular-humanist values and ex-urban & rural whites that favored traditional Christian values, nationalism, economic protectionism & immigration restriction: https://www.meetup.com/Philadelphia-Political-Agnostics/events/pdjntlyvlbbc/
In February of 2018, we had a meetup entitled "Political Science & Political Myths" and in Part 4 of the discussion outline we addressed the central thesis of historian Thomas Frank's 2004 book What's The Matter with Kansas: How Conservatives Won The Heart of America. Frank claimed that the GOP used socially conservative rhetoric to get the white working class to vote against their own economic self-interest, whereas political scientists like Larry Bartels & Andrew Gelman argued that voter data shows that's not true & that (outside the South) poor whites tend to vote for Democrats and it's mostly the upper class that votes disproportionately for the GOP. However, in the wake of the 2016 election, Gelman noted that income had a very low correlation with vote preference and Democrats did much better with the upper-middle & uppers classes, suggesting that political differences between red & blue states are now explained less by differences in individuals’ incomes than by broader cultural forces. https://www.meetup.com/Philadelphia-Political-Agnostics/events/xvbrznyxdbxb/
Back in June of 2018, we had a meetup entitled "Do Colleges Need Academic Freedom & Political Diversity?" and we discussed the argument that as college professors become more left-leaning there's a lack on ideological diversity - esp. in the humanities & social sciences - that has slowly shifted the university's purpose from unbiased education to liberal indoctrination. While there's good evidence to support the leftward shift of academics, the "indoctrination" hypothesis appears to be less likely because it's much harder for teachers to change students' pre-existing political alignment than most people think: https://www.meetup.com/Philadelphia-Political-Agnostics/events/xvbrznyxkbdc/
In a meetup in July of 2018 entitled "Press Freedom, News Quality & News Diversity" we discussed media bias & the echo chamber effect as well as the 3 factors listed in the title. The news media has become increasingly consolidated & journalists have become more left-leaning in recent decades, and press freedom has declined under both Obama & Trump. However, on the bright side, studies of media bias suggest it probably doesn't shift audience's pre-existing political views very much (although it probably reinforces them), and the greater accessibility of online information seems to have partly ameliorated the "echo chamber" effect. https://www.meetup.com/Philadelphia-Political-Agnostics/events/xvbrznyxjbnb/
Back in December of 2017, the Skeptics had a meetup entitled "The War on Science & Assymetric Irrationality". They looked at arguments that conservatives or liberals are more prone to denying science, endorsing conspiracy theory, voting against their own self-interest, and exhibiting negative psychological traits. According to prominent social psychologists like Jonathan Haidt, Daniel Kahan & Keith Stanovich, there's no clear evidence that one side of the political spectrum is inherently more irrational than the other on every issue: https://www.meetup.com/Philly-Skeptics/events/241726423/
