Stephen Ducat- Hatreds We Love

“A remarkably well-written and lucid excavation of the current political psyche. The growth of tribalism, the propensity for treating political antagonists as “psychological wastebins,” and the seductions of authoritarianism are only a few of the tough subjects Stephen Ducat takes on in this astute and necessary book.”– Laura Kipnis, New York Times Editor’s Choice author of Love in a Time of Contagion: A Diagnosis.

“With so many books about Trump, it is refreshing to read one that analyzes the power he has over his followers, especially his ability to tap into an eagerness to form groups that embrace their numerous grievances. Dr. Ducat is a psychoanalyst who lives in a rural setting awash with Trump signs and MAGA hats, making this deep dive into what he calls ‘tribal psychology’ unusually authentic and well-worth reading.”– Justin A Frank, M.D., New York Times best-selling author of Trump on the Couch: Inside the Mind of the President.

Hatreds We Love speaks to the causes and underlying dynamics of what is now one of the greatest threats to the viability of what remains of American democracy and global democratic governance more broadly: political tribalism. In-group loyalty is such a powerful driver of political behavior that people will readily abandon their values, long-held moral principles, and even their lives. Ducat concludes by offering readers ideas they can readily use to craft new, more effective forms of pro-democratic political action. This analysis of partisan enmity could not be timelier.

Stephen Ducat is an author, political psychologist, psychoanalyst, and former psychology professor in the School of Humanities at New College of California, where he taught courses in political psychology, cross-cultural psychology, and psychohistory. His doctorate is from the Wright Institute in Berkeley, California. Ducat completed his psychoanalytic training at the Psychoanalytic Institute of Northern California and is a licensed psychologist in California and Oregon.

From the beginning of his career as a psychologist and writer, he has been ceaselessly plagued by what drives people to support autocrats and persecute out-groups, even at the cost of their material self-interest. Ducat's history of publications reflects those long-standing concerns. For several years, the political psychology blog he wrote for HuffPost took up those questions from various perspectives, one of which was selected for the anthology Race in William Shakespeare’s Othello (Greenhaven Press, 2012). A version of another appeared among a collection of essays in River of Fire: Commons, Crisis, and the Imagination (Pumping Station, 2016), along with contributions by Mike Davis and Rebecca Solnit.

In his most recent book, Hatreds We Love: The Psychology of Political Tribalism in Post-Truth America, he examines an often-overlooked motive that sometimes can be more compelling than life itself – our psychological investment in group membership.

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