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Intergroup Threat and Affective Polarization in a Multi-Party System

Bäck, Hanna LU orcid ; Renström, Emma LU and Carroll, Royce (2021) In Journal of Social and Political Psychology 9(2).
Abstract
What explains affective polarization among voters and societal groups? Much of the existing literature focusing on mass political polarization in modern democracies originates in the US, where studies have shown that, while ideological separation has grown, political conflict increasingly reflects social identity divisions rather than policy disagreements, resulting in affective polarization. We focus on explaining such polarization in a multi-party context. Drawing on social identity theory and intergroup threat theory, we hypothesize that individuals who perceive an intergroup threat show stronger intergroup differentiation and increased affective polarization. We analyze the influence of perceived threat on affective polarization... (More)
What explains affective polarization among voters and societal groups? Much of the existing literature focusing on mass political polarization in modern democracies originates in the US, where studies have shown that, while ideological separation has grown, political conflict increasingly reflects social identity divisions rather than policy disagreements, resulting in affective polarization. We focus on explaining such polarization in a multi-party context. Drawing on social identity theory and intergroup threat theory, we hypothesize that individuals who perceive an intergroup threat show stronger intergroup differentiation and increased affective polarization. We analyze the influence of perceived threat on affective polarization drawing on two large-scale representative surveys in Sweden (N = 1429 and 1343). We show that individual-level affective polarization is related to perceived intergroup threats among the voters in both studies, measuring affective polarization using social distance, negative trait attribution, and party like-dislike ratings.

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Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Journal of Social and Political Psychology
volume
9
issue
2
publisher
PsychOpen
external identifiers
  • scopus:85135097790
ISSN
2195-3325
DOI
10.5964/jspp.7539
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
295bcde4-fe87-4478-8db8-a387ded26ee6
date added to LUP
2022-03-14 17:08:36
date last changed
2024-02-19 17:31:12
@article{295bcde4-fe87-4478-8db8-a387ded26ee6,
  abstract     = {{What explains affective polarization among voters and societal groups? Much of the existing literature focusing on mass political polarization in modern democracies originates in the US, where studies have shown that, while ideological separation has grown, political conflict increasingly reflects social identity divisions rather than policy disagreements, resulting in affective polarization. We focus on explaining such polarization in a multi-party context. Drawing on social identity theory and intergroup threat theory, we hypothesize that individuals who perceive an intergroup threat show stronger intergroup differentiation and increased affective polarization. We analyze the influence of perceived threat on affective polarization drawing on two large-scale representative surveys in Sweden (N = 1429 and 1343). We show that individual-level affective polarization is related to perceived intergroup threats among the voters in both studies, measuring affective polarization using social distance, negative trait attribution, and party like-dislike ratings.<br/><br/>}},
  author       = {{Bäck, Hanna and Renström, Emma and Carroll, Royce}},
  issn         = {{2195-3325}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{2}},
  publisher    = {{PsychOpen}},
  series       = {{Journal of Social and Political Psychology}},
  title        = {{Intergroup Threat and Affective Polarization in a Multi-Party System}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.5964/jspp.7539}},
  doi          = {{10.5964/jspp.7539}},
  volume       = {{9}},
  year         = {{2021}},
}