Don't Talk about Politics - by Sarah Stein Lubrano (Hardcover)

About the Book

Democracy is dying because we are clinging to a dangerous and outdated myth: talking about politics can change people's minds. It doesn't.

Book Synopsis

Democracy is dying because we are clinging to a dangerous and outdated myth: talking about politics can change people's minds. It doesn't.

This provocative debut from a bold new voice combines a fascinating range of research to show us the psychological and sociological factors that really shape our politics.

Drawing from ancient philosophy to modern neuroscience and social science, Dr Sarah Stein Lubrano reveals the surprising truth about how people think and behave politically. From friendship to community organizing and social infrastructure, she explores the actions that actually do change minds.

In a world where politics keeps getting more irrational, dishonest, violent and chaotic, it's getting much harder to reach people with words alone. So people who really care about democracy must ask: how can we stop arguing and do the deep work to build stronger foundations for political life, and a better world for us all?

Review Quotes

"A very timely book indeed, full of wise, hopeful, sometimes sad, sometimes funny truths, about how we have reached the place we are in. It asks to put aside so much of what we think we know in the name of a more realistic assessment of how politics, language, communities and beliefs really work. Eye opening and necessary." --Alain de Botton, author of The Consolations of Philosophy and Essays in Love

"A timely and hopeful critique of today's political culture, Sarah Stein Lubrano challenges us to rethink politics - placing interpersonal activism and community-building above performative outrage." --Alice Cappelle, author of Collapse Feminism: The Online Battle for Feminism's Future

"A rare combination of cognitive science and critical theory, Don't Talk About Politics gets nitty-gritty about political friendship, community trust, anticapitalist social infrastructure, the limits of protest or persuasion, and possibilities for normalising a kind of collective "reasoning" capable of engineering a more livable world. Sarah Stein Lubrano is an exceptionally erudite and thoughtful veteran activist. She always challenges people's liberalism in the gentlest and most effective way possible, even as she insists that books are rarely the thing (primarily) that changes people's minds-rather, it's the experience of acting together. A skillful, meticulous dismantling of debate culture." --Sophie Lewis, author of Abolish the Family and Enemy Feminisms

"Don't Talk about Politics will reshape the way you think about political communication. Stein Lubrano makes a compelling, and extremely well-researched case, for ending 'debate culture' and instead learning how to engage with new audiences with open minds and open hearts. This book changed the way I talk about politics." --Grace Blakeley, author of Vulture Capitalism

About the Author

Dr Sarah Stein Lubrano holds a PhD from the University of Oxford and a Master's degree from the University of Cambridge. Her thinking often reaches the public through the Sense and Solidarity Initiative and the Future Narratives Lab. She was previously the Head of Content at The School of Life, tutored in prisons and wrote obituaries. She regularly appears on public radio and a variety of podcasts.