WEBVTT NOTE recognizability 0.916 NOTE language en-us 00:00:00.600 --> 00:00:05.110 It's the age-old question did those around you affect your world view 00:00:05.110 --> 00:00:09.780 including your politics it's been hard to analyze because of small samples 00:00:09.780 --> 00:00:13.900 covering short time periods but now a provocative new study 00:00:13.900 --> 00:00:18.790 published in science advances magazine based on eighty-year-old census data may 00:00:18.790 --> 00:00:23.000 contain the answer researchers attempted to connect people alive today 00:00:23.000 --> 00:00:27.920 from long ago using big data to look at their current political affiliation 00:00:27.920 --> 00:00:31.900 the conclusion if a white male who was recorded in the nineteen 00:00:31.900 --> 00:00:36.810 forty senses as having lived next door to someone who was black. 00:00:36.810 --> 00:00:41.640 There's an increased chance that they are registered as a democrat today here to 00:00:41.640 --> 00:00:46.110 explain is doctor why and he knows one of the study's authors from harvard's 00:00:46.110 --> 00:00:51.020 institute of quantitative social science and the department of government so doctor 00:00:51.020 --> 00:00:54.330 ...walk us through this you took the nineteen forty 00:00:54.330 --> 00:00:59.180 census data had it digitized and searched and then found out who 00:00:59.180 --> 00:01:02.930 is still alive today than what. 00:01:02.930 --> 00:01:07.510 Yeah, we've...move like today we connected them to their voter file we look at how people were 00:01:07.510 --> 00:01:11.140 register to vote and we thought that among the sequel to register 00:01:11.140 --> 00:01:14.820 to vote today where they live in nineteen forty. 00:01:14.820 --> 00:01:21.080 Whether or not we had a black neighbor predicted whether or not...democrat today. 00:01:21.080 --> 00:01:24.950 What if I lived in the neighborhood with black families but not 00:01:24.950 --> 00:01:29.840 ...is a white guy but not directly next door? 00:01:29.840 --> 00:01:34.730 ...really key question...we're able to do with connect people who live in the fame neighborhood so we took 00:01:34.730 --> 00:01:38.060 two individual one who had a black neighbor and one who did and 00:01:38.060 --> 00:01:41.670 ...you said something very key here these are all white men and we look and 00:01:41.670 --> 00:01:46.140 compare the two white men wear white boys and found out the one that lived in the 00:01:46.140 --> 00:01:49.250 ...neighborhood that had a black neighbor compared to the one 00:01:49.250 --> 00:01:52.810 ...is more likely to be a democrat today. 00:01:52.810 --> 00:01:58.880 How big of a bump did you see based on the factors you've described talk about 00:01:58.880 --> 00:02:03.820 ...point and I know can you can pay back up and down big...you have to realize this is over millions of 00:02:03.820 --> 00:02:07.190 ...if you...three percentage points of millions of people and 00:02:07.190 --> 00:02:12.100 after we would have had a more integrated society...or more integrated society now 00:02:12.100 --> 00:02:18.910 ...be looking at a different place them anyway if you can...for the long-term effect by the... 00:02:18.910 --> 00:02:19.590 So, how do, 00:02:19.590 --> 00:02:24.570 you know, that if I'm the white guy subject from the nineteen forty senses how do, you know, 00:02:24.570 --> 00:02:28.270 that I wasn't progressive in my politics van and 00:02:28.270 --> 00:02:32.770 frankly I wanted to live in a mulch innate multi-racial 00:02:32.770 --> 00:02:37.420 neighborhood and including next to a black family how can you control for that? 00:02:37.420 --> 00:02:40.170 You have a great question michael that one of the p think we have to look 00:02:40.170 --> 00:02:44.800 at a lot of it comes down to that comparing people in the same neighborhood which control for a lot of 00:02:44.800 --> 00:02:48.580 thing but that sentence data really rich and we can control for a 00:02:48.580 --> 00:02:53.480 whole to think we can try to look at your parents were we can try to look at...about where they live to their neighbors 00:02:53.480 --> 00:02:58.480 were and we can ever be a hundred-percent sure because it with an experiment in the laboratory but 00:02:58.480 --> 00:03:02.290 at best as we can tell we're pretty confident that it really is the improvement 00:03:02.290 --> 00:03:06.530 ...neighbor better changing people politics. 00:03:06.530 --> 00:03:10.780 Do you think doctor...knows this would have applicability to other demographic 00:03:10.780 --> 00:03:15.500 factors religion sexuality...in the blank? 00:03:15.500 --> 00:03:18.860 Yet...I mean if...really old question about when we 00:03:18.860 --> 00:03:23.630 lived near people are different and we have contact with people different...to that effect who we are the 00:03:23.630 --> 00:03:26.950 ...world you and I think the answer definitely yes like I mean look 00:03:26.950 --> 00:03:31.800 ...now have a long way to go integration would come to think like immigrant religious minority 00:03:31.800 --> 00:03:36.670 ...minority and how we defied a question of integration now I think our study 00:03:36.670 --> 00:03:42.370 showed could have long-term consequences for five years in the future? 00:03:42.370 --> 00:03:46.890 Seems to me that it would be and, this is already so laborious, you know, 00:03:46.890 --> 00:03:50.680 what you've already done but it would really be important if now 00:03:50.680 --> 00:03:54.760 you could speak to the people rather than just identify them you're, you're 00:03:54.760 --> 00:03:58.990 alive in forty and today you're a democratic you were living next to somebody 00:03:58.990 --> 00:04:05.910 who's black and then speak to them and find out what was going on in their life...right like when you that you make a good social 00:04:05.910 --> 00:04:09.930 pipe because our instinct to and we've started to do that and 00:04:09.930 --> 00:04:12.800 ...and you can really learn a lot from and we...do a lot more 00:04:12.800 --> 00:04:17.700 to future if you ask people that were live now about their childhood in nineteen forty 00:04:17.700 --> 00:04:22.390 ...they you can learn a lot about what that contact with like and how it shape 00:04:22.390 --> 00:04:27.610 the world view and people that were...just like all...we talk about our childhood and we know that 00:04:27.610 --> 00:04:32.920 in many ways that shape who we are and we're trying to do more...is...really about making profit?