Political Discourse Amongst Family: How To Talk Politics (Productively) at Thanksgiving Dinner

You know that Thanksgiving moment, when a cousin or uncle, parent or child, suddenly raises a divisive political issue at the table--and everyone freezes? For so many families in our polarized United States there seem to be only two pathways forward: either everyone agrees to ignore it and change the topic (e.g. "how 'bout dem Stillers?").Or an argument is going to break out that ends in the gravy boat thrown across the room. What if there was a more productive way? Some of the chief sources of polarization itself include treating discussion as argument "to be won" and not talking to people with differing political views. This talk will go through some practical ways that you--regardless of your political views--can help navigate and facilitate constructive political conversation with family, friends, and those close to us. The goal is to be able to get conversation to a point of discourse--which is essential to democracy, and also makes for an actually meaningful, and (gasp) potentially enjoyable, meal experience with the family. At the very least we can hopefully save the gravy boat this year.

Andrew Lotz, PhD serves as an Assistant Dean in Arts and Sciences, as well as a Lecturer and Advisor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Pittsburgh.

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