Winter 2027
Politics & Moral Psychology

The Culture Wars

Why We Fight About What We Fight About
James Magnus-Johnston·12 Weeks·~8 Hours·Intermediate
Course Progress
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Quick Links

Syllabus (PDF) Go Online (LMS) Slides / Lectures
Assignments
Presentation Sign-Up Presentation Rubric Peer Grading Form Artifact Prompt Form Field Notes Guide
Resources
Readings Folder Essay Development Tool

About This Course

Why do people disagree so vehemently about gender identity, affirmative action, wealth redistribution, or climate change? Why do people get angry when their core beliefs are challenged? How does social media and other technology contribute to polarization and the breakdown of social cohesion?

The concept of a "culture war" has existed in American discourse for over 30 years, describing a movement toward group affiliation based on contemporary expressions of moral virtue rather than more traditional categories such as religious or political affiliation, ethnicity, social class, or economic status.

This course examines how such a political cleavage has come to exist, and its implications for social cohesion and trust in public institutions. We will explore the ideas and evidence surrounding this concept, including the nature/nurture debate about the origin of variation in social norms.

Primary Texts

Posting a text does not mean its content is endorsed. Some material is academic, some is popular and polemical — artifacts intended to stir debate.

Haidt, Jonathan. The Righteous Mind. Vintage Books, 2013.
Hunter & Wolfe. Is There a Culture War? Brookings, 2007.
Thomson, Irene Taviss. Culture Wars and Enduring American Dilemmas. U of Michigan Press, 2010.

Weekly Schedule

0 / 6 complete
Week 1What Differentiates Cultural/Moral Issues?+
This week: ~25 min video · ~2 hrs reading
Lecture
Lecture 1: What Makes a Culture War Issue?
~25 minutes · Coming soon
Readings
Angus Reid Institute — Canada and the Culture Wars (Part II)Open the reading to unlock (~10 min)
Mutz & Rao (2018). The Real Reason Liberals Drink Lattes.Open the reading to unlock (~12 min)
Williams (1997). Is America in a Culture War? Yes, No, Sort Of.Open the reading to unlock (~8 min)
Artifacts
Peter MacKay: Trudeau's cynical gutting of Canadian historyOpen the article to unlock (~5 min)
Conservative outrage over Canada's modernized passportsOpen the article to unlock (~5 min)
Weekly Reflection
What makes a "culture war" issue different from an ordinary policy disagreement?
0 / 4 complete
Week 2Interrogating Determinism+
Demographics, genes, and the left-right distinction
Readings
The Fractured Politics of a Browning America (video)
Charney (2008). Politics, Genetics, and 'Greedy Reductionism.'
Bobbio. Left and Right. pp. 30–37, 60–79.
Weekly Reflection
To what extent are our political orientations determined by factors beyond our control?
0 / 5 complete
Wk 3–4Political Psychology+
How groups became the contemporary unit of evaluation
Readings
Sears, Huddy & Jervis (2003). The Psychologies Underlying Political Psychology.
Jost, Federico & Napier (2009). Political Ideology: Structure, Functions, Elective Affinities.
Tversky & Kahneman. The Framing of Decisions.
Converse (1964). The Nature of Belief Systems in Mass Publics.
Weekly Reflection
How does group identity shape the way people process political information, and how does this differ from an individual unit of analysis?
0 / 7 complete
Wk 4–5Income, Class, and "the Elite"+
Perceived and actual mechanisms of control
Readings
Maks-Solomon & Rigby (2019). Are Democrats Really the Party of the Poor?
Thomson, Ch. 8.
Druckman & Nelson (2003). Framing and Deliberation.
Meng & Berezina (2020). Personality and Political (Dis)Engagement.
Chatterji & Toffel (2018). The New CEO Activists. HBR.
Global Strategy Group (2019). Doing Business in an Activist World.
Weekly Reflection
Who are "the elite," and who gets to define them?
0 / 9 complete
Wk 5–6Faith and the "Clash of Civilizations"+
Good and evil in secular vs. sacred domains
Readings
Huntington (1993). The Clash of Civilizations.
Perry (2002). Huntington and His Critics.
Murray (2022). The War on the West. Ch. 2 & 4.
Goodwin & Milazzo (2017). Taking Back Control?
Artifacts
McWhorter on Wokeness as New Religion
Patterson — Wokeness and the New Religious Establishment
Strachan & MacArthur — Christianity and Wokeness
Kingsnorth — The Tale of the Machine
📌 Midpoint Due: Field Notes & Debate Reflection — submit by end of Week 6
Weekly Reflection
Can "wokeness" be meaningfully compared to religious belief?
0 / 4 complete
Week 7Life & Death+
Who determines the sanctity of life — human vs. divine agency
Readings
No Jargon Podcast, Ep. 167 — A Case of Life and Death
Evans (2002). Polarization in Abortion Attitudes, 1972–1998.
TBD — Reading on MAID
Weekly Reflection
Where should the line be drawn between personal autonomy and collective moral boundaries?
0 / 9 complete
Wk 8–9Gender and Queerness+
The genesis and evolution of a new social order
Readings
Kaufmann & Petrocik (1999). The Changing Politics of American Men.
Setzler & Yanus (2018). Why Did Women Vote for Donald Trump?
Murray (2019). The Madness of Crowds. Ch. 1, 2, 4.
Artifacts
NYTimes — The new LGBTQ culture war
Corporate America and Pride Month
Penn Today — Game Pieces in the Culture War
Peterson — Trans activism is sexist and delusional
Twenge — Where Did All the Bisexual Women Go? (The Free Press)
Weekly Reflection
How has the meaning of "gender" shifted in public discourse, and what drives resistance to that shift?
0 / 7 complete
Week 10Race: Indigeneity, Blackness, Whiteness+
Demographic shifts change the conversation
Readings
Hooghe & Dassonneville (2018). Explaining the Trump Vote.
Eisenberg (2013). Indigenous Cultural Rights and Identity Politics.
Murray (2019). The Madness of Crowds. Ch. 3.
Artifacts
What makes an Indigenous person Indigenous?
Jonathan Kay — American-style culture wars corroded Canadian identity
PragerU — The Whiteness of Wokeness
Weekly Reflection
How does the concept of "race" function differently in Canada than in the United States?
0 / 6 complete
Week 11The Environment+
Attraction ("market") vs. compulsion ("law")
Readings & Artifacts
Hoffman (2012). Climate Science as Culture War.
Krugman (2023). Climate Is Now a Culture War Issue.
Paddison & Nilsen (2023). Climate: a culture war between Europe and the US.
Novelli. Climate Change is the Next Frontier.
Berry (2017). Beyond the American culture wars.
Weekly Reflection
When and how did climate change become a culture war issue?
0 / 2 complete
Week 12Conclusion — Politics as Religion?+
Readings
Mason (2018). Uncivil Agreement: How Politics Became Our Identity. Ch. 1.
📌 Final Due: Field Notes & Debate Reflection — submit by end of Week 12
📝 Final Essay due (2,500–3,000 words) — see assignment details below
Weekly Reflection
How and when throughout history has politics become a form of religion, and what happens when it does?

Assignments, Policies & Further Reading

+
Ongoing
Oral Chapter Presentations
Prepare a 10–15 minute synopsis of each reading to catalyze discussion. Substantive yet conversational.
  • Summarize the main argument and sub-sections
  • Present implications and conclusion
  • Critical analysis — problems? Gaps?
  • Pose questions to defend/critique the reading
Grading
Peer & Instructor Review
Peer grading via web form. Instructor aggregates final grade. Non-participation impacts your grade.
  • Style — cohesive, pleasing?
  • Substance — accurate?
  • Clarity — clear delivery?
  • Engagement — prompts, communication?
Ongoing
Artifact Analysis
Media pieces and opinion columns selected not because they're endorsed, but because they're worth interrogating.
Ongoing · Submitted Weeks 6 & 12
Field Notes
Your Field Notes are a running record of your engagement with this course. After each class, write a short entry (300–500 words) that synthesizes the readings, the class discussion, and your own observations. What struck you? What challenged your assumptions? How does what we discussed connect to something you've seen in the news, in your community, or in your own life? This is not an essay. It's a thinking tool. Entries are collected and submitted at the midpoint (Week 6) and at the end of the course (Week 12).
Final · Due Week 12
Final Essay
Write a 2,500–3,000 word essay that takes a position on one of the central tensions explored in this course. Your essay should demonstrate engagement with the primary texts, integrate evidence from class discussions and your Field Notes, and present a clear, well-supported argument. You are not graded on which position you take. You are graded on how well you reason through it.
  • A clear thesis that engages with one or more course themes
  • Substantive engagement with at least three course readings
  • Evidence of independent thinking, not just summary
  • Coherent structure and persuasive writing
  • Connection to real-world events or personal observation
Policy
Submissions & AI Use
Submit all assignments by email. Acknowledge AI use: "This paper benefited from [tool] by [company] for [purpose]."
Supplementary Texts
Abrams, Fiorina & Pope. Culture War? The Myth of a Polarized America. Pearson, 2006.
Browning et al. From Culture Wars to Common Ground. Westminster John Knox, 1997.
Devine. Human Diversity and the Culture Wars. Praeger, 1996.
Eck. What is Pluralism? Harvard, 2006.
Hunter. Culture Wars: The Struggle to Define America. Basic Books, 1991.
Mason. Uncivil Agreement. U of Chicago Press, 2018.
O'Reilly. Culture Warrior. Broadway, 2006.
Rieff. Therapy or Democracy? World Policy Journal, 1998.