This talk explores how liberals and conservatives differ in whom they blame for social problems -individuals or systems- and how these blame patterns shape our emotions and policy preferences. Yet beneath the heated rhetoric of America’s culture war lies a surprising finding: There are fundamental similarities in how people across the political spectrum reason about blame and responsibility. The speaker will draw on decades of psychological research on these topics, summarized in her recent book (see https://gailsahar.com/).
Jane Oxford Keiter Professor of Psychology at Wheaton College in Massachusetts. Author of the book: Blame and Political Attitudes: The Psychology of America’s Culture War (Palgrave Macmillan, 2023).
Co-sponsored by Peace and Conflict Studies and the Department of Psychology.
