person1979–

Ross Douthat

Disciplines:

Summary

American columnist at The New York Times — the leading Catholic conservative intellectual voice in mainstream American media — author of Bad Religion, The Decadent Society, and The Deep Places — who converted to Catholicism at 17.

Core Contribution

Creates the Catholic conservative critique of American culture for a secular audience — Douthat's The Decadent Society (2020) argued that the West has entered a period of technological and political stagnation without the creative destruction required for renewal — the most ambitious diagnosis of American cultural decline by an active journalist.

Key Spikes & Highlights

Was diagnosed with late-stage Lyme disease in his 30s after years of misdiagnosis — The Deep Places is his memoir of chronic illness and the medical establishment's hostility to patients who don't fit standard diagnoses; his illness experience reinforced his skepticism of expert consensus
Wrote Privilege as a Harvard junior critiquing Harvard's meritocratic culture from inside it — the meta-level irony (an insider critique of insider culture) established the self-implicating honesty that characterizes all his subsequent work

Notable Works & Achievements

Privilege: Harvard and the Education of the Ruling Class

Grand New Party

Bad Religion

To Change the Church

The Decadent Society

The Deep Places

Historical Influences

G.K. Chesterton Christopher Lasch Walker Percy

Intellectual Lineage

New Haven Harvard Atlantic NYT op-ed

Contemporaries & Peers

David Brooks Michael Brendan Dougherty Matthew Schmitz

Minds Influenced

Conservative Catholic commentary

Intellectual Posterity

The Decadent Society Bad Religion Douthat as Catholic conservative

Discussing

Ross Douthat

Ask anything about Ross Douthat — their ideas, influences, contradictions, legacy.

person1979–

Ross Douthat

Disciplines:

catholicism

conservation/conservatism

documentary/commentary

new york times

Summary

Core Contribution

Key Spikes & Highlights

Was diagnosed with late-stage Lyme disease in his 30s after years of misdiagnosis — The Deep Places is his memoir of chronic illness and the medical establishment's hostility to patients who don't fit standard diagnoses; his illness experience reinforced his skepticism of expert consensus
Wrote Privilege as a Harvard junior critiquing Harvard's meritocratic culture from inside it — the meta-level irony (an insider critique of insider culture) established the self-implicating honesty that characterizes all his subsequent work