The Harvard Law School Library staff invite you to attend a book talk and discussion in celebration of Cass Sunstein’s recently published book titled #Republic: Divided Democracy in the Age of Social Media (Princeton Univ. Press, Mar. 14, 2017).
Copies of #Republic: Divided Democracy in the Age of Social Media will be available for sale and Professor Sunstein will be available for signing books at the end of the talk.
Wednesday, March 22, 2017 at noon, with lunch
Harvard Law School WCC 2019 Milstein West A/B (Directions)
1585 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge
About Cass R. Sunstein
Cass R. Sunstein is Robert Walmsley University Professor at Harvard University, Massachusetts. From 2009 to 2012, he was Administrator of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. He is the founder and director of the Program on Behavioral Economics and Public Policy at Harvard Law School, and he is the author of many articles and books, including the best-selling Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth, and Happiness (with Richard H. Thaler, 2008), Simpler: The Future of Government (2013), Why Nudge? (2014), Conspiracy Theories and Other Dangerous Ideas (2014), Wiser: Beyond Groupthink to Make Groups Smarter (2014), Valuing Life: Humanizing the Regulatory State (2014), Choosing Not to Choose: Understanding the Value of Choice (2015), Constitutional Personae: Heroes, Soldiers, Minimalists, and Mutes (2015), and The World According to Star Wars (2016).
More About #Republic: Divided Democracy in the Age of Social Media
“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.” — Princeton University Press
Reviews of #Republic: Divided Democracy in the Age of Social Media
“I . . . found myself shocked at how relevant Sunstein’s account was to my own life and the ways I seek out and encounter information, which is in a way the value of the book–it gets you to reflect on the role of your information habits on your view of the world around you. And if you want to know how important that is, well, you should read Sunstein’s book.” — Annie Coreno, Publishers Weekly (staff pick)
“America’s leading legal academic gives us a way to address democracy’s leading challenge–preserving a public informed enough to govern itself. Drawing on an incredible range of scholarship and experience, this book could not be more timely. Or urgently needed.” — Lawrence Lessig, Harvard Law School
Endorsements:
“What went wrong with social media and also with democracy? Here’s the guy who saw it coming, and yes he does have all the answers.”— Tyler Cowen, author of The Great Stagnation
“The Internet has surely enhanced our democracy, with greater access to information and fewer barriers to connecting with each other. However, we’re seeing the opposite today with more narrow-minded online platforms and communities, as evidenced by the impact of fake news on this past election. #Republic pointedly captures the risks of the ongoing evolution of social media to our democratic ideals.” — Stephanie Cutter, former Senior Aide to President Barack Obama and Partner, Precision Strategies