Political Empathy Lab (PEL): The politics of encounter

During the Summers of 2024, 2025, and 2026, students from the University of Pennsylvania traveled around the swing state of Pennsylvania not canvasing or polling but listening to and engaging with people in the state. To counter affective polarization, Political Empathy Lab (PEL), housed in the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) Paideia Program at Penn, is an applied approach that equips Penn undergraduates to connect with others by attuning themselves to their own thoughts and feelings while listening to different points of view. Regular exercise of these practices builds social trust and is a necessary precondition for deliberative democracy. PEL also emphasizes the importance of place and travel in cultivating deeper understanding of others, as well as vulnerability which can produce intellectual humility and curiosity.

What are your hopes and dreams for your country? When do you find it hardest to listen, what gets in the way? What role should listening play in a democratic society? Visit us and let us know how some of the universal themes we encountered in Pennsylvania manifest in your home communities.

Learn more at snfpaideia.upenn.edu/initiatives/political-empathy-lab.