September 10, 2024
In a recent Good Authority newsletter, political scientist John Sides wrote about a new book called Enchanted America. As Sides explained, the book’s authors argued that we make sense of our world largely by using mental shortcuts. The insight isn’t new, of course. What is new is the authors’ argument that in this sensemaking, people tend to either be “rationalists” or “institutionalists.” This categorization can help advocates, analysts and academics understand voter attitudes and behaviors.
I sent the piece to a friend who spends a lot of time thinking about how people make sense of their political worlds. In return, my friend sent me something from the email newsletter, The Marginalian, about the relationship between the individual and the universe, and lamented that “we make the magical mundane.” This was not the response I expected. My friend is the best strategic communications person I know. Her job is to make sense of events in ways that help her clients pass legislation, change public behavior, and drive social change. Making the seemingly insurmountable mundane and manageable is how she pays the bills. It’s also what we do in SMPA. Our faculty make sense of our chaotic and political worlds. Those of you studying journalism are learning to explain a complicated world to busy readers - you make the magical if not mundane, at least rational. Those of you studying political communication are learning how to shape those explanations to your advantage. The whole point of SMPA is to look at the magical and say “this makes sense, here’s how and why, and this is what you should do about it.”
Our world is chaotic and confusing, we all need help putting into some sort of order so that we can get on with our day. Making the magical mundane, finding ways to understand and manage what can feel chaotic, is a critical skill. But as my friend reminded me, it is also important to step back and marvel at the wonder that is our world. Sometimes it's important to let the magical be magical, and not reduce it to the mundane.