On Politics: Why you can’t change someone’s mind
From The LRB Podcast by The London Review of Books
March 25, 2026 · 1h 12m
About this episode
The episode discusses the challenges of changing people's minds in politics and the role of debate and technology in shaping political discourse.
Something has gone wrong in the way we discuss politics. If democratic systems since the Athenian polity have been founded on debate, then what does debate do for us today, aside from making us angrier and filling billionaire-owned social media sites with monetisable content? Sarah Stein Lubrano has argued that the ‘marketplace of ideas’ is a myth and the best ideas often don’t win out. In this episode she joins James Butler to talk about the things that do and don’t change people’s minds and why meaningful change is better achieved through means other than argument, such as social ties and collective action. They also consider what technology has done to shape the political landscape and individual behaviour, and the ways in which it has been exploited most effectively by those on the right.Sarah Stein Lubrano is the author of Don’t Talk About Politics. Read more on politics in the LRB: https://lrb.me/lrbpolitics From the LRB Subscribe to the LRB: https://lrb.me/subslrbpod Close Readings podcast: https://lrb.me/crlrbpod LRB Audiobooks: https://lrb.me/audiobookslrbpod Bags, binders and more at the LRB Store: https://lrb.me/storelrbpod Get in touch: podcasts@lrb.co.uk
People in this episode
Host: James Butler
Guest: Sarah Stein Lubrano
Topics covered
- politics
- debate
- social media
- collective action
- technology
- mind change
Keywords
- politics
- debate
- social media
- mind change
- collective action
- technology
- Athenian polity
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: The London Review of Books
Books & works: Don’t Talk About Politics
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