The Law of Group Polarization & YOU

I received a very strange email yesterday:


Hi SQ,

Attached is a one-page suggestion for curriculum inclusion.
It concerns what Sociology calls, 'THE LAW OF GROUP POLARIZATION' .
This is in the interest of a complete education on gender issues,
Peter F K and family

< /DIV>

Now, as of yet, no one in the department
can figure out who this guy is. My guess?
Perhaps an angry/concerned parent.

I say "angry" because of my historic
experiences with parents . . . conservative parents
who never realized they were sending their child
to a liberal arts school.

I say "concerned" because of my eternal
hope and belief in the good nature of human kind.

Anyway, I looked up Group Polarization on the net
and here's what I found:

The Law of Group Polarization

CASS R. SUNSTEIN
University of Chicago Law School
December 1999

University of Chicago Law School, John M. Olin Law & Economics Working Paper No. 91

Abstract:
In a striking empirical regularity, deliberation tends to move groups, and the individuals who compose them, toward a more extreme point in the direction indicated by their own predeliberation judgments. For example, people who are opposed to the minimum wage are likely, after talking to each other, to be still more opposed; people who tend to support gun control are likely, after discussion, to support gun control with considerable enthusiasm; people who believe that global warming is a serious problem are likely, after discussion, to insist on severe measures to prevent global warming. This general phenomenon -- group polarization -- has many implications for economic, political, and legal institutions. It helps to explain extremism, "radicalization," cultural shifts, and the behavior of political parties and religious organizations; it is closely connected to current concerns about the consequences of the Internet; it also helps account for feuds, ethnic antagonism, and tribalism. Group polarization bears on the conduct of government institutions, including juries, legislatures, courts, and regulatory commissions. There are interesting relationships between group polarization and social cascades, both informational and reputational. Normative implications are discussed, with special attention to political and legal institutions.

Yadda Yadda.

So here's the question:
Is Peter a concerned parent who believes the theories behind group polarization could help explain gender contruction and/or even be utilized to forward the feminist movement?
Or is Peter an angry parent who believes that the university itself is a huge wash of nothing but group polarization and should be flushed accordingly?
Some iroinc combo? You decide.