The Key to Unlocking the Ills of Polarization? Recover Listening

What does the “art of listening” amount to in different settings of our public life: social and traditional media, court trials, the classroom, citizens’ assemblies, the internet, the street? How is listening shaped by its different ends, including understanding, empathy, judgment, and/or policy recommendations? Listening in the Public Sphere: Challenges and Possibilities, a symposium convened in 2025 by then Fellows-in-Residence Adriana Alfaro Altamirano and Sonali Chakravarti, asked panelists to respond to these timely questions. Their answers are now available as essays in the latest issue of Polity, including “Listening to Protesters” by current Fellow-in-Residence Candice Delmas, who participated in the symposium.