Cassandra Sever is a cultural sociologist and social theorist whose research examines how societies sustain shared worlds of meaning and why those worlds sometimes break down. Working at the intersection of sociology, philosophy, and political thought, she studies the cultural conditions that enable persons and institutions to maintain common understandings of reality, recognize authoritative forms of knowledge and moral guidance, and flourish.
Her current book project, A World No Longer Shared: Meaning, Reality, and Cultural Crisis, develops a general theory of cultural crisis by asking what makes it possible for societies to remain meaningful, intelligible, and recognizable to themselves across time. Examining persistent polarization, extremist movements, antisemitism, and deaths of despair, the book argues that these phenomena reflect a common crisis of cultural order. Through these cases, it illuminates how competing moral and interpretive worlds emerge and what distinguishes cultural orders capable of sustaining common realities across time.
Contact: csever@lumenchristi.org