The Arthur Brooks Show

This episode explores the experiences of conservative professors on campus, and why ‘viewpoint diversity’ matters in academia. We hear from Josh Dunn, Professor of Political Science at the University of Colorado and John Shields, Associate Professor of Government at Claremont McKenna College, who co-authored a book on conservative academics. Zack Beauchamp from vox.com joins Arthur in a discussion about de-platforming and freedom of speech on campus, and Professor Robert George talks about his experience at Princeton. 

How can we keep contempt out of our disagreements? And why should we? Arthur talks to John Gottman, who’s spent most of his career as a social psychologist studying contempt within relationships. He is the co-founder of the Gottman Institute in Seattle, where he does work with married couples, and shares his insights on the corrosive nature of contempt, and how we can get out of the habit of expressing it, both in our personal relationships, and more broadly, as a nation.

There's a lot of disagreement on social media, but not a lot of meaningful debate. In this episode, we figure out how to change that by first understanding the nature of disagreement in the online space. Anonymity, silos, outrage - these flourish in our filter bubbles, but why is that? And we talk about how to go from text-based disagreement - which de-humanizes people, to the most powerful way to do meaningful debate - face to face.

The smartest person in the room doesn’t always win the debate — the best storyteller does. This episode explores the power of storytelling and how we can use stories to more effectively persuade, inspire, and unify others. We hear from sociologist Kathy Edin, neuroeconomist Paul Zak and Grant Gordon of the International Rescue Committee.

The story of an unexpected moment of "bridging"—two opponents share a stage. What happened when Hawk Newsome, leader of a small group of activists from Black Lives Matter of Greater New York showed up at a pro-Trump gathering. Arthur talks to Newsome about how that played out, and with John Powell, Director of the Haas Institute for a Fair and Inclusive Society, about the challenges of sharing your stage (literally or metaphorically) with your ideological opponent.

How do we navigate substantive disagreements - political or otherwise - with those closest to us? And how do we hold a discourse without sweeping differences under the rug or burning bridges? This episode unpacks ways of dealing with those differences of opinion in personal relationships: a primer for dealing with conflict at the next family gathering, and an inspiring story of two friends whose relationship survived their politics. 

The first season of The Arthur Brooks show looks at the art of disagreement.