Many of us never interact with people of another race and don't like interacting with those who don't share their politics

Photo by Anthony Garand, Unsplash

For some Americans, variety is not the spice of life; they'd rather not mingle with anyone they consider different. Instead, they value "sameness, not difference," reports Emma Green of The Atlantic. "Most Americans do not live in a totalizing bubble. They regularly encounter people of different races, ideologies, and religions. For the most part, they view these interactions as positive or at least neutral. Yet according to a new study by the Public Religion Research Institute and The Atlantic, a significant minority of Americans do not live this way. They seldom or never meet people of another race. They dislike interacting with people who don't share their political beliefs. And when they imagine the life they want for their children, they prize sameness, not difference."

This seems to be a disproportionately rural phenomenon, based on a poll taken for PRRI and The Atlantic in December. "People living in rural areas were significantly less likely than those in cities to encounter racial, religious, or political difference," Green reports. "And among white people, education level made a huge difference: Those without a college degree were more than twice as likely as their college-educated peers to say they rarely encounter people of a different race, and more than four times as likely to say they seldom or never encounter people from a different religion or political party."

When it comes to politics, "Just under a quarter of Americans say they seldom or never interact with people who don't share their partisan affiliation," Green reports. "Black and Hispanic people were more likely than whites to describe their lives this way, although education made a big difference among whites: 27 percent of non-college-educated whites said they seldom or never encounter people from a different political party, compared with just 6 percent of college-educated whites."

Merriam-Webster defines pluralism as "a state of society in which members of diverse ethnic, racial, religious, or social groups maintain and develop their traditional culture or special interest within the confines of a common civilization." In theory, pluralism supports democracy, Green writes: "In a political era when the vast majority of Americans believe the country is divided over issues of race, politics, and religion, [pluralistic] relationships across lines of difference could foster empathy and civility." However, "These survey results suggest that Americans are deeply ambivalent about the role of diversity in their families, friendships, and civic communities. Some people, it seems, prefer to stay in their bubble."

People may opt to stay within their political or social group because of poor past experiences. "Almost one in five of the survey respondents said their interactions with people of a different political party are negative. . . . Party affiliation influences not just how people vote, but cultural decisions such as what to buy or watch on television," Green reports. Lilliana Mason, an assistant professor at the University of Maryland, told Green, "As these other social identities have moved into alignment with partisanship, we're seeing more animosity across partisan lines—not necessarily because we're disagreeing about things, but because we believe the [person from the] other party is an outsider, socially and culturally, from us."

Multiculturalism is a point of vast political divides. "In the survey, 54 percent of Democrats said they prefer the United States to be made up of people from a wide variety of religions, compared with 12 percent of Republicans. By contrast, 40 percent of Republicans said they'd prefer a nation mostly made up of Christians, compared with 14 percent of Democrats," Green writes.