From Stuck Debate to New Conversation on Controversial Issues

Abstract

Abstract Some public controversies, such as the abortion debate, have become so chronically polarized that most citizens cannot even think about them without falling into the adversarial discourse of the embattled movement leaders. The authors, who comprise the Public Conversations Project, use family systems ideas to design and conduct dialogue sessions where people with opposing views resist the pull of polarization and instead speak from the heart about personal experiences, express doubts, and show respectful curiosity with people whom they may previously have regarded as stupid, malevolent or hopelessly wrong-minded.