Campus Units
Political Science
Document Type
Book Review
Publication Version
Accepted Manuscript
Publication Date
9-6-2019
Journal or Book Title
Canadian Journal of Political Science/Revue canadienne de science politique
DOI
10.1017/S0008423919000076
Abstract
Lilliana Mason's Uncivil Agreement: How Politics Became Our Identity is easily the best book on American politics I have read in years. I mean this in two important ways. First, the book tackles what may be the most pressing question in politics: Why has the American public become increasing polarized? The answer—that the increasing overlap between identities changes the way that citizens see themselves and others—provides a clear understanding of polarization. But this is not only an important book, it is a good book. Mason constructs a careful argument, grounded in social psychology, and each chapter in the book builds sequentially on the previous ones. The result is a book that is more than the sum of the parts and represents a major advance in the field. I lost count of the number of times where Mason demonstrates a point that clearly articulated some previously unintelligible hunch I had about politics. There are few books that make this type of contribution to a vital question in the way that Uncivil Agreement does.
Copyright Owner
Canadian Political Science Association (l'Association canadienne de science politique) and/et la Société québécoise de science politique
Copyright Date
2019
Language
en
File Format
application/pdf
Recommended Citation
Peterson, David A. M., "Uncivil Agreement: How Politics Became Our Identity Lilliana Mason, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2018, pp. 192." (2019). Political Science Publications. 61.
https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/pols_pubs/61
Included in
American Politics Commons, Political Theory Commons, Social Psychology and Interaction Commons, Sociology of Culture Commons
Comments
This accepted book review is published as Peterson, D.A.M. Uncivil Agreement: How Politics Became Our Identity Lilliana Mason, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2018, pp. 192. Doi: 10.1017/S0008423919000076. Posted with permission.