Humans might be uniquely political animals, but a new UC Davis course on elections takes the idea literally
In her course “America Decides” (POL 11A), Amber Boydstun, a professor of political science, is taking a different approach to teaching electoral politics that helps students to unpack the emotions bound up with their own or each other’s politics.
“We are like animal behaviorists studying some weird birds,” said Boydstun. “It allows us to study and understand why voters and politicians and lobbyists and donors are making the choices that might seem irrational to someone who's outside. I think it also helps us build empathy for people who hold different views.”
How 2016 changed the way people do politics
Boydstun said that the 2016 U.S. presidential election was different than any election she’d seen in her lifetime. In the runups to prior elections, she would ask students to take up different political positions and list the pros and cons of different candidates. Students could accept their disagreements about the various candidates and even debate which candidates would be better to have a beer with.
The 2016 election, she said, broke the rules of the game.
“Students had a harder time respecting each other when they voiced their views,” said Boydstun. “It was just such a polarizing election. It felt like that foundation of respect was harder to maintain.”
Her solution? Step back from those emotions by using a scientific approach. Instead of arguing for and against candidates and policy positions based on personal beliefs, students would become animal behaviorists. Humans are a kind of animal, after all.
“Humans are fascinating animals,” said Boydstun. “We've put ourselves on the moon. We built Chat GPT. We create all these amazing, wonderful things but at the end of the day we're kind of like hairless monkeys. We operate more through fear than through hope. We’re more susceptible to disinformation than to real information. All this is true across the board, across cultures and across generations.”
From suits to feathers
Boydstun’s animal behaviorist approach to understanding elections gives students a new way to think about politicians, lobbyists, voters and everyone else who plays a role in politics and governance. Instead of siding with one political tribe or another, they talk objectively about voter blocs, such as people who are college educated or in blue-collar jobs.
“If I want to understand how college-educated white farmers in the Midwestern states are likely to vote, I need to understand what their lives are like and what kind of political information they've gotten,” said Boydstun.
The analysis as an animal behaviorist pushes even deeper when students consider that within those groups defined by the characteristics they might share is tremendous variation in everyone’s experience, desires and beliefs. These differences can play a powerful role in how a person votes.
Being aware of these differences, the very things that make each person an individual, is one foundation of empathy that is so often missing in the political sphere.
“It's through an empathetic lens then we can understand why other people are making decisions that don't make any sense to us,” said Boydstun. “I think by putting ourselves in those shoes we can better understand even if we don't agree with the choices that they're making. I also think it’s empathy that’s going to save democracy.”
Creating a space for students to grow
While this year’s course sessions focus on the November election for U.S. President, in other years Boydstun might focus on midterms elections for the U.S. House and Senate that take place every two years. The course is taking place this spring and also in the summer and fall of 2024 during the election.
Right now, the class is offered in-person but over the summer and fall it will be offered exclusively online with funding from the University of California Office of the President. The online version will also be open to students from every UC campus.
“I'm so excited that we'll be able to reach so many more students, and I’m so grateful for the funding from UCOP to make this possible,” said Boydstun.
The course is meant for all students, whatever their politics, and satisfies the Quantitative Literacy GE requirement. Every student gains the skills to interpret election news that might conflict with what they hear from family and friends or with what they might see on the web or on their social feeds.
Boydstun said she designed the course to make everyone feel like they can engage freely and engage with the subject and each other, whatever their personal politics. However, uncomfortable discussions still happen. It’s politics, after all. But for Boydstun, being uncomfortable, even having your beliefs challenged, is part of learning.
“I think having a little bit of discomfort means that we're doing our job of tackling these thorny issues of politics,” said Boydstun. “Even with this animal behaviorist approach, at the end of the day we all have a lot at stake. It makes sense that that we're going to have strong emotions. My goal is to make room for everyone set down however they’re feeling and take a scientific approach to understanding how the system works.”
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