In 2008, Bill Bishop published The Big Sort: Why the Clustering of Like-Minded America Is Tearing Us Apart. He showed how Americans were sorting themselves into homogenous communities.
Once you see this big sort, you can't unsee it. Examples abound.
The New York Times recently published an article describing the rapid growth of South Carolina. The article highlights a real estate company called Conservative Move. It helps conservatives find conservative places. It states on its website, “When your community no longer reflects morals and values, it might be time to move."
A few weeks before, The Free Press published a whistleblower account from Uri Berliner, who worked at National Public Radio for 25 years.
Berliner describes a lack of viewpoint diversity at NPR. He looked at the voter registration of his newsroom. Berliner found 87 registered Democrats working in editorial positions at NPR and zero registered Republicans — not exactly representative of the “national public.”
While this raises questions about our national unity, perhaps this big sort helps people forge deep relationships with those who see the world similarly?
Except we've never been lonelier.
The percentage of Americans saying they have no close friends has quadrupled since 1990.
Commenting on the rise in loneliness at the same time as the rise in cultural and political sorting, Brené Brown writes, "Ideological bunkers protect us from everything except loneliness and disconnection. Huddled behind them, we’re left unprotected from the worst heartbreaks of all."
I wish I had the solution for our national division and epidemic of loneliness. I don't.
But sorting ourselves into echo chambers doesn't seem to be working.
This could be a great week to reach out to someone — and even better if the person views the world differently.