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Going to Extremes
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Item Number: 8016
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What makes people become so dismissive of opposing views? Why is political and cultural polarizations so pervasive in America? What leads groups to engage in such destructive acts as terrorism and ethnic cleansing? In short, why do people become extremists?
In Going to Extremes, renowned legal scholar and best-selling author Cass R. Sunstein offers startling insights into why and when people gravitate toward extremism. Sunstein marshals an abundance of evidence that shows that when like-minded people talk to one another, they tend to become more extreme in their views than they were before. This process can occur in virtually setting: in religious organizations, corporate boards, investment clubs, and in the White House.
Sunstein shows that a good way to create an extremist group, or cult of any kind, is to separate the members from the rest of society, either physically or psychologically. The process of groups "going to extremes"applies to all arenas of life: political outrage on the Internet, the success of the disablility rights movement, ethnic conflict in Iraq and the fromer Yugoslavia, Islamic terrorism, and even unanticipated blockbuster in the film and music industry.
Providing a wealth of real-world examples - some entertaining, some alarming -- Sunstein offers a fresh explanation of why partisanship has become so bitter and debate so rancorous in America and Abroad. He the offers a path forward that can help us halt the drift toward unjustified extremism and broaden civic engagement in the public sphere.
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