New Report Reveals a Civic Virus Wreaking Havoc on our Nation’s Health
Conventional wisdom–and virtually every politician and media outlet in the country–will tell you that Americans are more polarized than ever before. Conventional wisdom is wrong. Rich Harwood explains what's really going on in America and outlines a practical, hopeful path forward.
“DIVISIONS IN THE COUNTRY ARE INTRINSICALLY ABOUT SOCIAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL CONDITIONS—SUCH AS FEAR, ANXIETY, AND A LACK OF EMPATHY AND BELONGING—RATHER THAN ABOUT IDEOLOGICAL POLARIZATION.”
The constant message of polarization from news media, social media, and political leaders has become an explanation and an excuse for why we can't seem to address fundamental issues facing the country. But it misdiagnoses what ails us.
This report reveals that Americans don’t feel polarized or antagonistic toward one another. They feel isolated and disoriented, like they are trapped in a house of mirrors with no way out. They are in the grips of a perilous fight or flight response.
In a society that is breaking apart, we must give people safe passage to hope. There is no quick fix, but there are proven steps that can help us move forward. This report shows how.
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“AS THE WORLD GETS WIDER AND MORE STRESSFUL, OUR REALITIES AND OUR UNDERSTANDING OF OTHERS IS SHRINKING. NOW THAT AMERICA’S CIVIC VIRUS HAS BEEN DIAGNOSED...CAN IT BE CURED?”
Media Mentions
About Rich Harwood and The Harwood Institute
Richard C. Harwood is an innovator, writer, and speaker. For over three decades, he has devoted his career to revitalizing the nation’s hardest hit communities, transforming the world’s largest organizations, and reconnecting institutions to society.
The Harwood Institute is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that equips people, organizations, communities, and networks with the tools to bridge divides, tackle shared challenges, create a culture of shared responsibility, and build capacity. The Harwood Institute’s work is rooted in a philosophy of Civic Faith and the practice of Turning Outward. Founded in 1988, the Institute’s approach has spread to all 50 states across the US and 40 countries around the world.
The Harwood Institute is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that equips people, organizations, communities, and networks with the tools to bridge divides, tackle shared challenges, create a culture of shared responsibility, and build capacity. The Harwood Institute’s work is rooted in a philosophy of Civic Faith and the practice of Turning Outward. Founded in 1988, the Institute’s approach has spread to all 50 states across the US and 40 countries around the world.
Our Research Partners
This report was created in partnership with the Kettering Foundation with the support of Dante Chinni at the American Communities Project. The following foundations and organizations were instrumental in organizing our research in their communities.
Chillicothe and Ross County Public Library, Chillicothe, OH
Delaware Community Foundation, Dover, DE
Ferguson Public Library, Stamford, CT
Houston Public Library, Houston, TX
Mesa County Libraries, Mesa County, CO
NET Nebraska, Nebraska
JoEllyn Agrabright, Decatur County, Kansas
Pivot Architecture, Eugene, OR
Sloan Museum, Genesee County, MI
Spartanburg County Public Libraries, Spartanburg, SC
The Patterson Foundation, Sarasota, FL
United Way of Fresno and Madera Counties, Fresno, CA
United Way of Southeast Louisiana, New Orleans, LA
United Way of Utah County, Utah County, UT
Zuni Youth Enrichment Project, Zuni, NM
Rhonda Kludt, Beadle County, SD
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The Harwood Institute used 16 focus groups to conduct this study providing people with the opportunity to think about various issues and topics over the course of a discussion lasting a couple hours, to talk about their views and feelings in their own words, and to describe the underlying assumptions behind their views. Each focus group comprised approximately 10 to 18 people, representing a cross-section of age, race, income, education and party affiliation. The participants were recruited by local organizations such as public libraries, community foundations, United Ways, committed individuals, a local public media organization, a museum, and a youth organization, among others. To ensure that we engaged a diverse group of communities and people in this study, The Harwood Institute forged a relationship with the American Communities Project (ACP), a combined social science/journalism effort based at the Michigan State University School of Journalism. Working with academics, ACP used a wide range of different factors —everything from income to race and ethnicity to education to religious affiliation—and a clustering technique to identify 15 types of counties across the nation. The Harwood Institute used ACP to conduct conversations in each of the 15 types of counties in the US. Two focus groups were held in rural middle American type counties to ensure rural voices were clearly understood and represented. These conversations were held during 2021. Focus groups were held in the following counties: Fairfield (CT), Utah (Utah), Sarasota (Florida), Lane (Oregon), Fresno (California), Mesa (Colorado), Spartanburg (South Carolina), Lancaster (Nebraska), Kent (Delaware), Beadle (South Dakota), Harris (Texas), Orleans (Louisiana), McKinley (New Mexico), Ross (Ohio), Genesee (Michigan) and Rawlins (Kansas).