American society has experienced fundamental changes that have polarized the nation’s political climate and ignited a perpetual culture war, according to co-authors of a new book Polarized by Degrees: How the Diploma Divide and the Culture War Transformed American Politics (Cambridge University Press, 2024). In a sequel to their award-winning collaboration Asymmetric Politics, Boston College Associate Professor of Political Science David A. Hopkins and Matt Grossmann (Michigan State University) show that the Democrats have become the home of highly educated citizens with progressive social views who prefer credentialed experts to make policy decisions, while Republicans have become the populist champions of white voters without college degrees who increasingly distrust teachers, scientists, journalists, universities, non-profit organizations, and even corporations. Hopkins and Grossmann say the result of this new “diploma divide” between the parties is an increasingly complex world in which everything is about politics–and politics is about everything. An article adapted from Polarized by Degrees appears in the magazine Governing.