In May, students, professors, and guests gathered to listen to Bret Stephens— author, Pulitzer Prize winner, and New York Times columnist— speak on the role of the cultural elite in American polarization. The lecture was hosted by Wheatley Institute, the BYU Political Science Department, and the Initiative for Peacemaking, and served as the opening keynote for the 2026 Brigham Young University Peacemaking Conference.
"I don't think there is much doubt that we live in a country in which what we broadly call the "elite" seems increasingly disconnected from, and often contemptuous of, the views, habits, and affinities of much of the rest of the country," Stephens began. "...it is my view that this disconnect is both the defining and most damaging fact of political life in America today."
But what defines the American "elite"? It's not wealth, power, geographic location, or family, Stephens argued. Instead, the elite are often defined based on their involvement in something Stephen calls the economy of words. "The economy of words is the economy that I inhabit," he explained. "It's an economy that rewards me for producing sentences, paragraphs, thoughts, speeches, and occasionally— I hope— a few memorable phrases. That's the economy not just of reporters and pundits, but also editors and publishers, attorneys and financial analysts, advertising execs and legislative aids, regulators and HR departments, academic and religious leaders, therapists and counselors, and, of course, politicians."
There is a second economy, one which serves a different function than the economy of words. It's called the economy of stuff. "The economy of stuff is pretty much everyone else," Stephens said. "People whose business it is to make, shape, move, fix, inventory, and sell tangible objects. The economy of stuff includes every farmer and factory worker, every truck driver and logistician, every salesperson and repairman, every wholesaler and retailer, every contractor and construction worker, every waiter and cook, every solider and first responder, every manufacturer and merchant, every nurse and doctor, every banker and car dealer...".
According to Stephens, neither economy really understands the other— or what they have to offer. This lack of understanding, in turn, has caused frustration, confusion, anger, and misunderstanding, shaping American politics in profound ways. "This broad and durable divide gets to the heart of the polarization that I think is so damaging to the United States," he explained. "It's not simply the fact that we so often have opposing views based on our different experiences and perspectives. It's that we only glimpse the other side through a veil of mutual and increasingly antagonistic incomprehension."
Following his remarks, Stephens sat down with Wheatley Director Paul Edwards for a Q&A session. Their comments touched on a wide range of topics, including the purpose of a university, how to distinguish between trivial and consequential differences in opinion, and AI and the importance of the humanities.
Speaker Bio
Since joining the New York Times in 2017, Stephens has written about foreign policy, domestic politics and cultural issues. He won the Pulitzer Prize in 2013 for his commentary at the Wall Street Journal, and previously served as editor-in-chief of The Jerusalem Post, a position he took at the age of 28. He has reported stories from Gaza to Greenland, and is the author of “America in Retreat: The New Isolationism and the Coming Global Disorder,” published in 2014.
Bret is the recipient of numerous awards and distinctions, including three honorary doctorates, the Ellis Island Medal of Honor, and the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for commentary. In 2022, the government of Russia banned him for life from visiting that country.
In addition to his work at The Times, in 2021 Bret became editor-in-chief of Sapir (sapirjournal.org), a Jewish quarterly published by the Maimonides Fund. The mission of Sapir is to offer ideas for a thriving Jewish future. He is also currently at work on a book about the future of the free world.
Bret was raised in Mexico City and holds a B.A. from the University of Chicago and an MSc. from the London School of Economics. He sits on numerous academic advisory boards and was a co-founder, with Garry Kasparov, of the Renew Democracy Initiative, an organization dedicated to advancing democratic principles throughout the world.
He and his wife, Corinna da Fonseca-Wollheim, a music critic and entrepreneur, live near New York City and have three children.