The Politics of Intellect and Epistemic Hubris in the United States

• In Event: Elite Cues & Motivated Reasoning

Abstract

The ignorance and misinformation that pervade the American polity are well documented, but an equally conspicuous feature of the American “politics of truth” has received very little scholarly attention: epistemic hubris—the tendency to express greater certainty regarding policy-related factual disputes than the evidence actually warrants. Understanding such hubris is important, because it is capable of inhibiting democratic vitality in a variety of ways. In this investigation, we draw upon observational and experimental evidence to find that epistemic hubris is associated with both intellectualism and anti-intellectualism—depending on whether one is a Democrat or a Republican. That is, we observe that the intellectual/anti-intellectual divide that is realigning the party coalitions may underwrite the hubris that tends to emanate from both sides of the aisle. By extension, we suggest that intellectual Democrats and anti-intellectual Republicans are both meaningful contributors to the partisan intransigence and intemperance that typify American politics in the 21st century.

Authors

• David C. Barker, American University

• Morgan Marietta, University of Massachusetts Lowell