The CIVA Lab

The US is facing three interlocking problems that make it more difficult for people to come together and manage the collective work of a flourishing democratic society.

• Political polarization raises the stakes of public conflict

• Civic disengagement and social isolation reduce participation in public life

• Declining trust in institutions and experts threatens the quality of shared information in the public sphere.

We seek to understand the forces that break people apart so that we can propose better solutions for bringing them together. We study sites and tools to improve our social infrastructure: culture, institutions, values, and authority (CIVA).

The Questions We Tackle

Past Projects

• How are cultural assumptions shaping climate preparedness?

• How do people use stigmatized identities in emerging professional industries?

• Did the COVID-19 pandemic increase racial animus in the US?

Current Questions

• Is the structure of work making religious and spiritual life more difficult for Americans?

• How is live-streamed media impacting political polarization?

• How can we better measure a satisfying social gathering? What keeps people committed to showing up?