Sarah Sobieraj
Part of the IFC’s 2016 Two-Day Symposium on Disagreement: Constructive Political Discourse and Inquiry
Friday, April 1, 2016, 4:30 p.m.
St. Olaf College, Black and Gold Ballroom
About the Speaker
Sarah Sobieraj
Sarah Sobieraj is an award‐winning teacher and researcher with expertise in media, politics, and culture. She is the co‐author of The Outrage Industry: Political Opinion Media and the New Incivility and Soundbitten: The Perils of Media-Centered Political Activism. In The Outrage Industry, Sobieraj “tackles the mechanics of outrage rhetoric, exploring its various forms such as mockery, emotional display, fear mongering, audience flattery, and conspiracy theories. She and her co‐author then investigate the impact of outrage rhetoric — which stigmatizes cooperation and brands collaboration and compromise as weak. … [This rhetoric] sours our own political lives, exacerbating anxieties about political talk and collaboration in our own communities.”