The big sort is the concept that as a society we have social and cultural norms that form from our personnel beliefs, however we are not alone in these beliefs in fact we share these beliefs with many. We are socialized into these views and we will tend to “sort” ourselves so that we are aligned with likeminded people in our society that share our views. If you side with a specific political party you are more likely to associate yourself with these people and even live in an area in which people share your views. The big sort applies to everything to do with culture not just our favorite political candidates, we organize ourselves by our eating habits, our hobbies, age, gender, race and many more things that give us different sections of society.
I see the Big Sort all the time in my life it’s very easy to see how we organize ourselves with likeminded people who do the same things. Many of the kids in my grade love riding bikes and hangout a lot together mean while I spend most of my time with other musicians. Peoples income also sorts us the homeless people in Durango congregate together and the people that make lots of money know each other.
The thing that this means for democracy is that it makes me wonder if democracy is really a free choice or just a choice between options presented to us. We make our political decisions on who we like based off what party they are and what their views on policies are. But how much of the reason that we vote on certain candidates is because we are sorted this way. Even if we don’t like some of what a candidate has to say you may vote for him because that’s what the people around you are voting for and its seems like the right choice.
I see the Big Sort all the time in my life it’s very easy to see how we organize ourselves with likeminded people who do the same things. Many of the kids in my grade love riding bikes and hangout a lot together mean while I spend most of my time with other musicians. Peoples income also sorts us the homeless people in Durango congregate together and the people that make lots of money know each other.
The thing that this means for democracy is that it makes me wonder if democracy is really a free choice or just a choice between options presented to us. We make our political decisions on who we like based off what party they are and what their views on policies are. But how much of the reason that we vote on certain candidates is because we are sorted this way. Even if we don’t like some of what a candidate has to say you may vote for him because that’s what the people around you are voting for and its seems like the right choice.