Open Learning Project Resources

​This page offers a variety of resources related to the Open Learning Project themed project, Communication Beyond Polarization. 

What is Polarization?

• Lelkes, Y. (2016). Mass Polarization: Manifestations and Measurements. Public Opinion Quarterly, 80 (S1), 392–410.

Polarization in the U.S. Today

• Washington Post (2020, December 26). Why is the U.S. So Polarized? A Neuroscientist and Political Scientist Explain Why. YouTube.
• Dimock, M. & Wike, R. (2020, November 13). America is Exceptional in the Nature of Its Political Divide. Pew Research Center.
• Beyond Conflict (2020). Report: America’s Divided Mind.
• Stephen Hawkins, S., Yudkin, D.; Juan-Torres, M.; Dixon, T. (2018). Hidden Tribes: A Study of America’s Polarized Landscape. More in Common.
• Heltzel, G., & Laurin, K. (2020). Polarization in America: Two Possible Futures. Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences, 34, 179-184. 
  
• Iyengar, S., Lelkes, Y., Levendusky, M., Malhotra, N., & Westwood, S. J. (2019). The Origins and Consequences of Affective Polarization in the United States. Annual Review of Political Science, 22, 129-146.
  
• Klein, E. (2020). Why We’re Polarized. New York: Simon and Schuster.
• Klein, E. (2020, January 28). Ezra Klein’s Why We’re Polarized: The Media’s Role (excerpt). Vox.
  
• Packer, G. (2021, July/August). How America Fractured into Four Parts. The Atlantic.
  
• PBS (2021, 2013). American Insurrection. Frontline.
  
• PBS (2020, November 17). American Voices: A Nation in Turmoil. Frontline.
  
• PBS (2020, July 28). United States of Conspiracy. Frontline.
  
• Rosenfeld, S. (2018). The Polarizers: Postwar Architects of Our Partisan Era. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

Polarization, Politics and Identity

• Pierson, P.; Skocpol, T.; Rose, G. (2021, June 30). Virtual Roundtable: The Rise of Political Partisanship. Council on Foreign Relations.
• Kendall, M. (2020). Hood Feminism: Notes From the Women That a Movement Forgot. New York: Viking.
• Klein, E. (2020). How Identity Politics Took Over the Republican Party. The Ezra Klein Show. New York Times.
• Mason, L. (2018). Uncivil Agreement: How Politics Became Our Identity. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
• Brick, C. & ver der Linden, S. (2018). Identity, Not Issues, Explains the Partisan Divide. Scientific American.
• PBS (2020, November 17). Documenting Hate: New American Nazis. Frontline.

Communication and Community

• ​Goltz, D.B., Murphy, A., Zingsheim, J. (2022). Back to Office: Reconsidering "Business as Usual [White Paper]​." DePaul University Center for Communication Engagement.​​​​ ​
  

Communication, Media and Polarization

• Amanpour and Company (2019, December 9). Jonathan Haidt: How Social Media Drives Polarization. YouTube.
• Freeman, J. (2019, June 24). Fake News and Fake Education? The Wall Street Journal.
• The Journal (2021, September 18). The Facebook Files, Part 4: The Outrage Algorithm. The Wall Street Journal.
• PBS (2018, October 30). Facebook Dilemma. Frontline.
• Mason, L. E., Krutka, D., & Stoddard, J. (2018). Media Literacy, Democracy, and the Challenge of Fake News. Journal of Media Literacy Education, 10(2), 1-10.

How to Address Polarization

• Byrne, D. (2021). We Are Not Divided Project.
• Krebs, E. (2020, October 21). Building a Kinder, Gentler, Smarter Social Media User. Reasons to be Cheerful.
• Cikara, M. (2020, October 12). Combating Polarization: The Pearson Global Forum 2020. YouTube.
• Kleinfeld, R. & Sobel, A. (2020, July 23). 7 Ideas to Reduce Political Polarization and Save America from Itself. Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
• More in Common (n.d.). Initiatives.
• Levy, S. (2020, October 29). How to Talk to Friends with Different Political Views. Teen Vogue.