I heard a Public Radio segment on _The_Big_Sort_. I believe that there is something to that. The town that I live in is predominately liberal, many on the leftist fringe. It's hard to find folks who aren't liberal here, unless one looks to the folks here because of government or the university.

I think that living with those who are like you makes you feel comfortable, but it is limiting, because you cease to be exposed to other ideas. Living with only liberals is like living with only white people. It lets you develop all sorts of stereotypes about the other group (conservatives and minorities respectively) without any sort of reality check. And even though liberals in general are more likely to question their beliefs and (particularly) the beliefs of others, it's difficult to question those beliefs if you are lulled into believing that yours are the only beliefs and the only way to be.

I have been half-joking with friends that now is the time to go house-hunting. Not for economic reasons, but because the lawn signs are out and it's the perfect time to find out if the neighborhood you're considering fits you politically.

I notice in the editorial review (on your link), that the author says that we've moved in the "last three decades." But haven't we always been in communities of like mindedness? I can easily remember growing up hearing stories about this or that part of town or different neighborhoods having certain characteristics.

Is this really anything new?

Mark,

I think that what the author is saying is that a tendancy that has always exsisted has been magnified by a more mobile society. People can live wherever they want for the most part, and they do, and as communities get more and more homogenous, they become more and more extreme in their views.

So, yes and no.

The tendancy isn't new, but the degree to which that tendency is able to express itself is, and is apparently accelerating. Liberals are becoming increasingly more educated, urban, secular and technologically minded. Conservatives are becoming increasingly rural and suburban, anti-intellectual, anti-government, religious, and millitaristic...with some exceptions like Sillicon Valley...

The Big Sort basically looks into where a variety of demographic trends (beginning in the 60's and 70's are taking us, and how they are interacting with each other.