By Buddy Chung,Lilledeshan Bose
Copyright usc
As part of his presidential focus on open dialogue and civics, USC Interim President Beong-Soo Kim has emphasized the vital role that universities play in a democracy, and vice versa. “Universities help anchor our democratic values, and democratic values help anchor our universities,” Kim said. “You can’t facilitate the very best research and learning if you don’t maintain a strong system and culture of academic and political freedom.”
Kim was asked to share some books (or other works) that have helped shape his own perspectives on our democratic history and values.
The Radicalism of the American Revolution by Gordon S. Wood (1992) — Wood, an emeritus professor of history at Brown University, argues that the American Revolution was radical in that American colonies’ break from British rule unexpectedly empowered ordinary people and created an individualistic society. “A beautifully written and definitive account of how the American Revolution fundamentally reshaped political, social and cultural life, transforming a near-feudal society into the world’s greatest democracy,” Kim says.
The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion by Jonathan Haidt (2012) — Haidt, a social psychologist at New York University’s Stern School of Business, explores morality and its impact on politics, arguing that moral judgments are driven more by intuition than reasoning. “By analyzing the psychological roots of disagreement and polarization, Haidt shows how humility and understanding others’ frameworks can restore social and democratic cohesion,” Kim says.
#Republic: Divided Democracy in the Age of Social Media by Cass Sunstein (2017) — Sunstein, a professor at Harvard Law School, argues that the rise of personalized digital environments threatens the shared experiences, exposure to diverse viewpoints and unplanned encounters that undergird democracy. “After explaining how social media and algorithmic filtering create echo chambers and information cocoons, Sunstein argues that shared public fora, policy nudges and civic education can enable more respectful dialogue and curiosity across divides,” Kim says.
“The Power of the Powerless” (essay) by Václav Havel (1978), published in The Power of the Powerless: Citizens of the State in Central-Eastern Europe — A Czech playwright who became Czechoslovakia’s president in 1989 via the nonviolent Velvet Revolution, Havel argued that ordinary people have tremendous potential to resist oppressive power through small assertions of truth and morality. “In this essay examining life under authoritarianism, the late Czech dissident and leader shows how individual integrity and civic engagement can challenge oppressive systems and advance democratic ideals,” Kim says.
String Quartet No. 8 by Dmitri Shostakovich (1960) — A Soviet composer and pianist, Shostakovich dedicated this quartet to the “memory of victims of fascism and war” in the wake of World War II’s devastation. It is widely interpreted as chronicling both the composer’s personal struggles under Stalin’s regime and the universal anguish of oppression. “This string quartet exemplifies the indefatigable spirit of artistic freedom and conscience under totalitarianism,” Kim says.
