Understanding mass political polarisation across time and across countries
Understanding mass political polarisation across time and across countries
In order to understand the drivers of political polarisation amongst the general public, we need to understand how it changes across time, and how it varies across countries. Interviewed by Roger Mosey, Master of Selwyn College and previous Editorial Director at the BBC, Lee de Wit will talk about recent research from the Cambridge Political Psychology Lab which tracks how polarisation has (and hasn’t) changed over the last 3 years in the UK, and looks at international trends across 105 countries.
Speakers
Dr Lee de Wit

Lee de-Wit originally trained in cognitive neuroscience, but now studies political psychology, and is the Director of the Cambridge Political Psychology Lab. Polarization is a current focus of his work, which is funded by the Templeton World Charity Foundation, the ESRC and a Knowledge Transfer Partnership with MHP group, with whom Lee helps to run the UK MHP Polarization Tracker. Lee is also Head of Undergraduate Education in the Department of Psychology and Deputy Head of the Department of Psychology, and a Fellow at Trinity Hall.
Roger Mosey

Roger Mosey is the Master of Selwyn College and a Deputy Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge.
Previously, he spent most of his career at the BBC. His final role was as Editorial Director, and previous jobs included being Editor of Today on BBC Radio 4; Controller of BBC Radio 5 Live; Head of BBC Television News; Director of Sport and the BBC Director of London 2012.
Roger was born in Bradford in 1958 and educated at Bradford Grammar School, followed by Wadham College, Oxford. He has written two books about the media – most recently “20 Things That Would Make The News Better” – and is a contributor to publications including the New Statesman, The Spectator, and the Independent.
Booking information
In-person lectures at the Sidgwick Site as part of Alumni Festival cost £15 per person.
Booking for this event is now closed.