A Symposium on Jeff Spinner-Halev and Elizabeth Theiss-Morse’s Respect and Loathing in American Democracy: Polarization, Moralization, and the Undermining of Equality

Respecting citizens across political divisions is something many take for granted as important for democracy. Respect is central to democratic discussion and democratic equality. If we respect one another, we are more likely to listen to those with whom we disagree, to take the concerns of our fellow citizens seriously as democratic equals, to not look down upon them with scorn or contempt, and to accept their participation in the political process as legitimate. Democratic theorists sing paeans about the importance of respect but they say little about the conditions that make respect possible or the trade-offs between respect and other values. Our book places respect in the context of partisanship, which is clearly one of the major cleavages of our day. We take what many theorists consider a key virtue, respect, and ask if citizens live up to this ideal in a polarized environment.