About Theory of Change
Lots of people want to change the world. But how does change happen? History is filled with stories of people and institutions that spent big and devoted many resources to effect change but have little to show for it. By contrast, many societal developments have happened without forethought from anyone. And of course, change can be negative as well as positive.
In each episode of this weekly program, Theory of Change host Matthew Sheffield delves deep with guests to discuss larger trends in politics, religion, media, and technology.
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Episodes
How Linux and open-source software took the computing world by storm
Programmer and entrepreneur Miguel de Icaza talks about how Linux went from a college student’s hobby to powering most of the world’s computers, and his own story as a free software developer
Ezra Taft Benson and the tangled history of Mormon and evangelical extremism
Historian Matthew L. Harris speaks about the critical role that Mormonism played in the development of right-wing American politics
Fighting disinformation is something everyone can do, and must do to protect our democracy
Fact-checker and rumor killer Brooke Binkowski talks about the history of falsehoods, and how to combat them
Why critical thinking is the long-term cure for disinformation
While combating specific false beliefs is important, in the long run, helping people learn to spot misinformation is the best way to counter it
How the ‘anger industrial complex’ works to monetize rage
Podcaster and former CNN reporter Michele Mitchell talks about how commercialized media and scheming politicians profit from making us upset and uninformed
The ‘Southern Strategy’ changed the GOP just as much as it did white Southerners’ partisanship
Author Angie Maxwell talks about how conservative Republicans were changed as they reconfigured their political strategy to appeal to white Protestants’ politics of grievance
Democrats are in an identity crisis, do they know how to fix it?
Conservative policy ideas are very unpopular, but Democrats have not been able to close the deal with the public
Obsolete ‘both sides’ journalism has enabled far-right radicalism and enabled ‘faux left’ grifting
Media critic Eric Boehlert discusses how the mainstream press refuses to acknowledge that the Republican Party has turned against democracy
Misinformation epidemic: How conspiracy theorists and wannabe doctors confuse the public
#12: Richard Carpiano on medical misinformation and unqualified Covid-19 punditry
Pat Bagley on the conservative takeover of Mormonism and the GOP he once knew
Salt Lake Tribune editorial cartoonist Pat Bagley talks about his 43-year career observing politics, Utah, and Mormonism
How internet trolls from the late 90s and early 2000s created the ethos of American conservatism
Journalist Robyn Pennacchia discusses the rise of sexist trolling and how it merged with Christian nationalism to create today’s right-wing extremism
America’s for-profit media system has harmed our politics
Veteran media critic Parker Molloy discusses how media sensationalism and desire for access prevents ‘mainstream’ journalists from fully reporting what they know
Editorial cartooning is under threat in the age of the meme
Nationally syndicated cartoonists Nick Anderson and Nate Beeler discuss how the rise of the web has the nation’s editorial artists banding together
Can we trust opinion polls? The Pew Research Center is trying to make sure
Election polls nationally were fairly accurate in 2016, but big errors at the state level indicate that conducting surveys is becoming more difficult in the future