Overdoing Democracy

Talisse’s argument is that democracy can be damaged by too much of itself. As politics saturates ordinary life — where we shop, who we live near, what we watch — citizens sort into like-minded groups, their views become more extreme and more uniform, and they lose the shared non-political activities in which people encounter each other as something other than partisans. The prescription is not less civic commitment but deliberately building relationships and institutions that are not about politics at all.

Why it’s on the list: It sits in the Liberalism, Democracy, and Pluralism section alongside Talisse’s Sustaining Democracy, Haidt’s The Righteous Mind and Inazu’s Confident Pluralism — the cluster on how a plural society keeps functioning once disagreement becomes identity.

Where I saw it: On Brendan McCord’s Philosopher-Entrepreneur Reading List, in the section on Liberalism, Democracy, and Pluralism, saved to Kyle’s “Books To Read” Apple Note. The full 211-entry transcription lives on The Philosopher-Entrepreneur Reading List.

Connections

• Democracy — the concept the book qualifies.
• The Philosopher-Entrepreneur Reading List — the list this came from.