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related to: Is political polarization a threat to democracy today?Watch for proof that principles like fairness and democracy are alive and well in America. Discover the science behind toxic polarization and how we can overcome disunity
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Sep 9, 2024 · Polarization fails as an explanation of the American political landscape because the two major parties disagree over the basic facts of democracy itself. These psychological forces are strong, suggesting why ‘polarization’ remains strong even when it is not matched by deep disagreement on issues.
- Julia Azari
- A Simple Model of Opinion Change
- The Outsized Effects of Tolerance
- Exposure to Differing Points of View Isn’T Always The Solution
- Even Weak Incentives For Non-Polarized Opinions Can Stem The Tide
- Understanding Shocks: 9/11 vs. Covid-19
Our Attraction-Repulsion Model (ARM) is an agent-based model of opinion change. These types of models formalize assumptions about how individuals interact with one another and change their political ideologies, and then investigate the consequences of those assumptions. In Axelrod’s widely-researched culture model, for example, “agents” can adopt c...
Consistent with our democratic and pluralistic intuition, the ARM model shows that a society’s level of tolerance strongly influences the trajectory of polarization. Low tolerance among actors causes flurries of repulsive interactions and the rapid onset of extreme polarization, while moderate to high tolerance does the opposite. How, then, do we f...
Notions such as “we have more in common than we have differences” or “if you knew me better, you wouldn’t say the hateful things you say” appeal to mutual understanding as an antidote to intolerance. Under this view, we could cure national schisms by breaking out of our homogeneous neighborhoods and information echo chambers to learn from those who...
Unlike the agents in our model that are attracted and repulsed freely along the ideological spectrum, humans have social and cultural values that act as anchors to positions that, sometimes, serve their own interest. This is especially true when a person’s stake in a policy outcome is clear, such as a small business owner being more likely to oppos...
As the saying goes, “the enemy of my enemy is my friend.” Is polarization mitigated—even temporarily—in the face of external shocks such as war, climate disasters, or economic crises? According to our model, it depends. Specifically, crises unite a population only if they occur before the onset of extreme polarization or if the effects of such cris...
Sep 5, 2023 · Five Facts About Polarization in the United States. American voters are less ideologically polarized than they think they are, and that misperception is greatest for the most politically engaged people. Americans across parties share many policy preferences.
7 hours ago · There are serious stakes to the election, including democracy issues and abortion rights — but the intense, vitriolic polarization we’re experiencing now is largely based on our perceptions ...
6 days ago · But political polarization is also affecting Americans’ perception of what’s to blame. Republicans view Vice President Kamala Harris, President Biden and Democrats in general as bad for democracy.
Dec 9, 2021 · Much like an overexploited ecosystem, the increasingly polarized political landscape in the United States — and much of the world — is experiencing a catastrophic loss of diversity that threatens the resilience not only of democracy, but also of society, according to a series of new studies that examine political polarization as a ...
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Jan 3, 2022 · Political polarization is the ideological distance between opposed parties. If the differences are large, it can produce logjams, standoffs and inflexibility in Congress and state and local...
