Polarization

People who change their beliefs tend not to recall their initial, opposing beliefs.

Hate speech is not hard to find in 2017. A new study in Aggressive Behavior reveals that such verbal violence begets more hate and prejudice.

The internet has upended many trades. Next, perhaps, will be census takers. A new study finds that Google’s “Street View” photographs can be used to estimate a neighborhood’s racial fabric. They can also correctly predict if a town will vote Democrat or Republican over 80 percent of the time.

Death and taxes: They’re not only unavoidable; for the very rich, they’re also inseparable. The estate tax — the “death tax” to critics — is a levy on your property when you expire. But the threshold is high and few are required to pay.

America in recent decades has seen increases to life expectancy, a proxy for quality health care. We gained, on average, 5.3 years between 1980 and 2014. But the uneven distribution of these gains may be influencing political affiliation.

In the wake of the June 2015 mass shooting and anti-African American hate crime in a Charleston, S.C., church, many public officials, including the state’s governor, called for the removal of the Confederate flag from grounds near the South Carolina State House, and it was eventually taken down in July.

“Pope Francis Shocks World, Endorses Donald Trump for President”; “ISIS Leader Calls for American Muslim Voters to Support Hillary Clinton.”

The 2010 midterm elections shifted the balance of power in the U.S. Congress. Before, Democrats held significant majorities in both chambers; after, their margin of control shrank in the Senate and disappeared entirely in the House. Some commentators said that the elections showed that the United States had become a “conservative majority” country, an assertion supported by polls that indicated that 42% of Americans described themselves as “conservative,” up from 37% two years before.

The past 25 years in the United States have been marked by growing income inequality, increasing political divisions and rising immigration. A 2006 Princeton University study, “Polarized America: The Dance of Ideology and Unequal Riches,” looks at possible connections between these trends.