Peter Coleman has seen the enemy, and it鈥檚 not the people who violently disagree with us. It鈥檚 鈥渢oxic polarization鈥� itself 鈥� and Coleman, Professor of Psychology & Education, who is the focus of in the current edition of Newsweek, believes the Biden administration should focus on reducing it rather than on striving toward some idealized notion of nationalized unity.
Peter T. Coleman, Professor of Psychology & Education (Photo: 麻豆原创 Archives)
Coleman, who directs Teachers College鈥檚 , has been a frequent commentator of late in many venues. But in Newsweek, he goes a step further in suggesting how the new President and his team should try to heal the nation.
The principal thing I would recommend that Biden do is not talk about unity and healing yet. One of the things we've learned from peacebuilding is you don't go into a war zone and tell people to reconcile.
鈥� Peter T. Coleman, Professor of Psychology & Education, in Newsweek
鈥淭he principal thing I would recommend that Biden do is not talk about unity and healing yet,鈥� he tells writer Adam Piore. 鈥淥ne of the things we've learned from peacebuilding is you don't go into a war zone and tell people to reconcile. Instead, you talk about toxic polarization as a pathology in our communities, our homes, and the impact it has on us personally, our children鈥檚 health and our community鈥檚 health.鈥�
[Coleman鈥檚 new book , is due out in June from Columbia University Press.]