National article on 'toxic political environment' features insights from Elon professor

A recent article by alumna Kaitlin Ugolik ’09 for the national news site Quartz features insights by Laura Roselle, professor of political science and policy studies at Elon. 

The Nov. 3 article, titled “The US has an empathy problem, and it might be what’s causing the current toxic political environment,” explores what appears to be a lack of empathy as the country approaches Election Day. “At both ends of the political spectrum, people feel their needs aren’t being considered, and that others either can’t or won’t imagine their struggles,” Ugolik writes. “The takeaway is that the US has an empathy problem; what’s not yet clear is whether it’s a cause or a symptom of the current political culture.”

Ugolik interviewed Roselle, whose scholarship focuses on international political communication and who pointed to different streams of scholarship “focused on the importance of emotions and empathy.”

“If fear is important as an emotion — and we’ve been talking about fear this whole election cycle — then empathy must be important as well,” Roselle said.