Review: The Way Out
REVIEW
The Way Out: How to Overcome Toxic Polarization
by Peter T. Coleman
Peter Coleman is a leading academic in the world of complex conflicts. One of the most important contributions from Professor Coleman and his academic colleagues has been the application of nonlinear dynamical systems theory to complex conflicts. That's one way of saying that complex public conflicts act very much like other complex natural systems, including the kinds we observe in particle physics, flocking birds, predator-prey behavior, and social psychology.
In his latest book, *The Way Out*, Coleman brings this underlying theory and a considerable body of previous work to bear on the issue of toxic polarization. By unpacking polarization in terms of complex conflicts, he is able to shed new light on the sources of polarization, thereby bringing to light possible solutions. The academic work of Coleman and his colleagues was seminal in my own research, and it is encouraging to see this approach being carried forward into this specific challenge.
As one example, one of the sources of ongoing, long-standing conflicts that resist resolution lies in the fact that participants tend to oversimplify the issues so they can feel like they're able to make sense of what's going on. When matters become complex, they become extremely difficult to understand. Our human nature tends to fill in the gaps in our knowledge, even when that filler isn't fully rooted in reality. We seek comfort in these uncomfortable situations, even though sometimes that comfort comes from false information that confirms our priors. Coleman's antidote to too much complexity is, counterintuitively, *more* complexity. That is, in the sense that our comfortable oversimplification about other people (and ourselves) needs to be shaken up with a good dose of counterfactual reality. He makes the case for a number of ways to accomplish that difficult task in the context of hyper-polarized conflicting worldviews.
In similar ways, Coleman builds on the underlying application of complexity theory conflicts and brings it down to Earth, providing a staggering number of practical approaches to dealing with toxic polarization.
*The Way Out* is not an academic book, *per se,* but it is laden with academic depth and references, as well as practical stories and examples that both instruct and engage. It will be right at home as a textbook for a specialized course on this topic, but it also serves as an outstanding reference for anyone who deals with toxic polarization on a personal and professional level.
One can't help thinking that if there was a list of books that would help solve much of society's ills, this would be on the shortlist.
Dr. Mark Szabo is founder of the Center for Complex Conflict. He can be reached at mark@complexconflict.com.
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