STEPHEN HAWKINS
Global Director of Research for More in Common, which has published over 100 studies and reports on the psychology of political division in nine countries.
Stephen has spearheaded extensive research on polarization and his expertise has been presented to heads of state and featured prominently on the front pages of leading newspapers in the US and Europe.
Stephen Hawkins is focused on understanding and mitigating political polarization. He is the lead author of the 2018 study Hidden Tribes: a Study of America’s Polarized Landscape and other reports with More in Common that have been referenced in over one-thousand media articles, including in the New York Times, The Economist, CNN, Fox News, and The Atlantic. Stephen appears regularly on CPR’s Colorado Matters, has taken caller questions on C-SPAN’s Washington Journal, and speaks frequently at national and international conferences. Stephen has served as the Global Director of Research for More in Common since the organization’s founding in 2016, overseeing studies on the psychology of political division in nine countries. He holds a Master’s degree in Public Policy from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, where he was the class graduation speaker. Prior to joining More in Common, Stephen conducted public opinion research for Fortune 100 companies, United Nations agencies, electoral campaigns and political movements. Stephen lives with his wife in Denver, Colorado.
Speech topics
Overcoming Political Division
Are we truly witnessing an escalation of societal divisions, or is that merely our perception? Is there hope for the Exhausted Majority? Over the course of almost a decade, Stephen Hawkins has spearheaded extensive research on polarization across nine countries. His expertise has been sought by heads of state and featured prominently on the front pages of leading newspapers in the US and Europe. Drawing from a wealth of personal experience, Stephen will articulate a personal perspective not only on the intricacies of polarization but also on how to deploy the surprising scientific measures that can be undertaken to overcome it.