#Republic Divided
Democracy in the Age of Social Media
Cass R. Sunstein
From the New York Times
bestselling author of Nudge and The World According to Star Wars, a revealing
account of how today's Internet threatens democracy—and what can be done about
it
As the Internet grows
more sophisticated, it is creating new threats to democracy. Social media
companies such as Facebook can sort us ever more efficiently into groups of the
like-minded, creating echo chambers that amplify our views. It's no accident
that on some occasions, people of different political views cannot even
understand each other. It's also no surprise that terrorist groups have been
able to exploit social media to deadly effect.
Welcome to the age of
#Republic.
In this revealing book,
Cass Sunstein, the New York Times bestselling author of Nudge and The World
According to Star Wars, shows how today's Internet is driving political
fragmentation, polarization, and even extremism—and what can be done about it.
Thoroughly rethinking
the critical relationship between democracy and the Internet, Sunstein
describes how the online world creates "cybercascades," exploits
"confirmation bias," and assists "polarization
entrepreneurs." And he explains why online fragmentation endangers the
shared conversations, experiences, and understandings that are the lifeblood of
democracy.
In response, Sunstein
proposes practical and legal changes to make the Internet friendlier to
democratic deliberation. These changes would get us out of our information
cocoons by increasing the frequency of unchosen, unplanned encounters and
exposing us to people, places, things, and ideas that we would never have
picked for our Twitter feed.
#Republic need not be an
ironic term. As Sunstein shows, it can be a rallying cry for the kind of
democracy that citizens of diverse societies most need.
Cass R. Sunstein is the
Robert Walmsley University Professor at Harvard Law School. His many books
include the New York Times bestsellers Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health,
Wealth, and Happiness (with Richard H. Thaler) and The World According to Star
Wars. He lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
