fbpx

Democracy and the Sleep of Reason

[additional-authors]
March 28, 2017
A detail of Francisco Goya’s The Sleep of Reason Metropolitan Museum metmuseum.org

Democracy is in retreat, at least according to Jascha Mounk. The Harvard lecturer has been saying that for years in his columns for Slate, but now people are listening. Jonathan Rauch cited Mounk’s research in the March Atlantic:

“When asked to rate on a scale of one to 10 how essential it was for them to live in a democracy, 75% of Americans born in the 1930s chose 10, but the proportion dropped with each succeeding decade, falling to only about 30 percent for people born in the 1980s.”

Believing in democracy has been a cornerstone of the American civil religion since the United States became a country. What would account for this loss of faith? Mounk points to three factors: economic decline, economic inequality, and ethnic anxiety. When people make less money, or see others making more, or when their ethnic group loses social status, they lose confidence in the system.

Which leads to the question: Is democracy truly valuable in and of itself, or is it largely a means to secure those other benefits? Presidents from Teddy Roosevelt to Barack Obama have spoken about democracy as inherently good, as if no arguments were needed to prove its self-evident value. Mounk finds, however, that voters now see democracy primarily as a way to safeguard prosperity, economic parity, and social or cultural status.  When those are threatened or lost, so is support for democracy.

Consider another factor. The democratic idea, a child of the Enlightenment, is built on the assumption that informed voters will generally make rational choices. But, as Elizabeth Kolbert observed recently in the New Yorker, “today reason often seems to fail us.” She reports on studies which show the impact of confirmation bias—the tendency to see new information as supporting what you already think, no matter what it actually says. In other words, most people don’t actually draw rational conclusions from the information they have. They just believe what they want to believe.

Kolbert’s article also cites research into “the illusion of explanatory depth”—the common feeling that you understand more than you actually do. There’s yet another study which shows that people who actively defend their (mistaken) beliefs enjoy a pleasurable physiological reaction, a dopamine rush that reinforces the habit of denying inconvenient truths. These findings test Thomas Jefferson’s famous pronouncement that “a well-informed citizenry is the best defense against tyranny.”

What does this mean for American democracy?  If those studies are right, political positions will become even more polarized and inflexible, and rational arguments won’t change many minds. More people will stay within their own echo chamber of ideas. There will be more rallies and demonstrations, and less analysis and discussion.

Of course it’s a classic mistake to assume that current trends will simply intensify over time. History is full of surprises and disruptions, and undoubtedly there will be a few in the coming years. For now, though, it’s hard to foresee much good news for the cause of democracy.

 

Did you enjoy this article?
You'll love our roundtable.

Editor's Picks

Latest Articles

More news and opinions than at a
Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.

More news and opinions than at a Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.

More news and opinions than at a Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.