My research overall concerns ideological empathy, meaning individuals’ propensity to encounter views of the world they do not share, and approach such viewpoints neutrally or generously instead of negatively. Do regular people engage in ideological empathy, and to what extent? What are the consequences for regular political talk, affective polarization, and democratic stability?
I am developing my research so far into a book, for which the working title is Ideological Empathy: Disarming the Landmines of Left-Right Conflict in the U.S. I argue that the U.S. public is more ideological than the existing literature suggests. Furthermore, conservative Republicans and liberal Democrats have incomplete and ungenerous understandings of the other’s ideology, and do not fully understand the other group’s moral triggers (the landmines). Mutual triggering of these landmines helps escalate a cycle of democratic norm violations, which needs to be disarmed. I also draw from a model of ideology in which liberals and conservatives differ in their views of a dangerous world. I argue that the key for creating empathy is for both groups to better understand the other’s view of danger.
Publications
James N. Druckman and Jeremy Levy, 2022. “Affective Polarization in the American Public.” In Thomas J. Rudolph, ed., Handbook of Politics and Public Opinion. Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar Publishing. PDF.
Jeremy Levy and James N. Druckman. Book Review. 2022. “Left & Right: The Psychological Significance of a Political Distinction, by John T. Jost.” Political Psychology. PDF.
James N. Druckman, Jeremy Levy, and Natalie Sands. 2021. “Bias in Education Disability Accommodations.” Economics of Education Review 85. PDF.
Jeremy Levy, Robin Bayes, Toby Bolsen, and James N. Druckman. 2021. “Science and the Politics of Misinformation.” In Howard Tumber & Silvio Waisbord, eds., The Routledge Companion to Media Disinformation and Populism. New York: Routledge. PDF.
Jeremy Levy 