Culture Wars

The French sociologist Olivier Roy believes that “deculturation” is sweeping the world, with troubling consequences.

In his BBC show “Things Fell Apart,” the British-born journalist continues to examine our most heated public arguments with empathy.

Standup comedy has long been an art of public transgression—but, in the age of the culture wars, do audiences want to be challenged, or affirmed?

The life of an academic lacks natural narrative momentum. Cue cancel culture.

As a series of repressive bills targets drag shows across the country, performers in Texas try out a novel defense.

What a blood test taught me about testosterone, athleticism, and sex.

I had envisioned book bans as modern morality plays—but the reality was far more complicated.

The staff writer talks with David Remnick and the singer Adeem the Artist about the increasingly polarized politics of Nashville.

Inside a monthly New York City hangout, where fired university professors and controversial TikTokers get together to have discussions they feel they can’t have anywhere else.

Andrew Marantz, Kelefa Sanneh, and Clare Malone on two big stories about conservative media: the ouster of Fox’s leading man, and Owens’s rise as a culture-war influencer.

A Montana county’s battle shows how faith in public learning and public space is fraying.

Masha Gessen on the public discourse over trans identity, the real reasons for the culture war over gender, and how well-meaning people can do better.

As was true in the nineties, today’s fights about math are not entirely about what kids actually learn in their classrooms.

In American politics, ideology is often a smoke screen for individual ambition.

Benjamin Wallace-Wells on how Trump’s endorsement—and his wider political movement—shaped the race.

Previous clashes between Republican lawmakers and prominent businesses in the states they control have not always worked out as planned.

As an evangelical Christian, the retiring N.I.H. director has built bridges across America’s cultural divide. Have they burned?

The actor explains how he turned a crushing defeat in the movie business into a hit podcast. And the historian looks at the long battle between parents and the state.  

The majority’s proposal is both hard-hearted and shortsighted.

To Christopher Rufo, a term for a school of legal scholarship looked like the perfect weapon.