Beyond Your Bubble: How to Connect Across the Political Divide: Skills and Strategies for Conversations That Work

Israel, a psychology professor at University of California-Santa Barbara, debuts with a practical, nonpartisan guide to holding productive conversations about hot-button political issues. First, Israel differentiates between debate, which she characterizes as a matter of winning an argument, and dialogue, which she describes as a thoughtful exchange of ideas aimed at either persuading or finding common ground with someone. Israel encourages people to prepare for dialogue with exercises such as expressive writing, and explains how to ask open-ended (rather than loaded) questions when talking to someone with opposing political viewpoints. Israel also encourages readers to recognize, appreciate, and appeal to the distinct moral priorities of liberals (“compassion,” “justice,” and “rights”) and conservatives (“loyalty,” “authority/respect,” and “traditions”). Israel enriches her straightforward advice with charts aimed at helping readers to gauge their level of comfort with political disagreements and useful sample dialogues and thought experiments. The result is a lucid and concise guide to avoiding the pitfalls of partisanship. (Aug.)