Everybody's in a Bubble, and That's a Problem
In politics as well as business, people are shaped by who they see—and who they don't.
In politics as well as business, people are shaped by who they see—and who they don't.
Living in bubbles is the natural state of affairs for human beings. People seek out similarities in their marriages, workplaces, neighborhoods, and peer groups. The preferred sociological term is “homophily”—similarity breeds affection—and the implications are not all positive. White Americans have 90 times more white friends than they have black, Asian, or Hispanic friends, according to one analysis from the Public Religion Research Institute. That’s not a description of a few liberal elite cliques. It’s a statistic describing the social networks of 200 million people. America is bubbles, all the way down.
We all live in a bubble.
Here’s why you step out of it, according to experts
Picture this, you’re online scrolling through your Facebook newsfeed and this is what you see: ‘Keep them out! Finally nice to see there’s accountability in this country #travelban.’ Or you see this: ‘How can this even be legal? Families are being torn apart #travelban.’Depending on your ideologies and opinions, you might see one or the other. But usually not both. That’s according to experts who say you’re living in an online bubble.
Three quarters of whites don’t have any non-white friends
"All my black friends have a bunch of white friends. And all my white friends have one black friend." That's the memorable punchline of a Chris Rock bit from 2009 on interracial friendships. And according to some recent number-crunching by Robert Jones of the Public Religion Research Institute, there's a good deal of truth to that statement.
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