The surprising reason why society is so divided
Economic uncertainty, inequality and discontent, disillusionment with government, the Russian war against Ukraine, migration policy and climate change have created social and political tensions. The us against them narrative has seen a resurgence across Europe. To address why this is occurring, a research team at the Medical University of Vienna explored the increase in political and social polarisation around the world between 2008 and 2010. This period coincided with a dramatic change in how people connected socially because of the emerging digital media landscape. The researchers devised a mathematical model to investigate this phenomenon. The findings were published in the ‘Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences’(opens in new window).
United we stand, divided we fall
“The big question that not only we, but many countries are currently grappling with, is why polarization has increased so dramatically in recent years,” commented co-author Stefan Thurner, professor at the Medical University of Vienna, in a news item(opens in new window). “And this increase happened suddenly, between 2008 and 2010.” The cause might lie with social connections. “For decades, sociological studies showed that people maintained an average of about two close friends—people who could influence their opinions on important issues,” he added. “Around 2008, there was a sharp increase from an average of two close friends to four or five,” explained co-author Jan Korbel, a postdoctoral researcher at the same institution.
The paradox
But instead of this social connectivity unifying people, it divided them. Polarisation rose sharply. “This finding impressed us greatly because it could provide a fundamental explanation for the peculiar form of polarization we’re currently observing simultaneously across many parts of the world—one that definitely threatens democracy,” Thurner continued. “When people are more connected with each other, they encounter different opinions more frequently,” added Korbel. “This inevitably leads to more conflict and thus greater societal polarization.” Polarisation is not a new dynamic in society. However, nowadays it seems to be more robust and deep-rooted than in the past. Innovations in digital communication and social media in particular resulted in fewer yet more tight-knit groups that have extremely opposing views. “There are few bridges between these ‘bubbles,’ and when they exist, they are often negative or even hostile,” explained Korbel. “This is called fragmentation, and it represents a new social phenomenon,” continued Thurner. Extensive data was gathered from thousands of existing surveys. The researchers used over 27 000 surveys from the Pew Research Center in the United States to measure polarisation. They analysed friendship networks by combining 30 different surveys involving more than 57 000 respondents from Europe and the United States. The authors also stressed the significance of proactively engaging with diverse views and actively nurturing tolerance to keep societies from growing more fragmented. Yet another study(opens in new window) analysed over 8 700 Facebook posts from political parties in 13 EU Member States. The aim was to find out whether the posts presented controversial issues and how these were framed during the 2024 European Parliament elections. Results revealed that populist parties deliberately chose divisive issues, ultimately creating division in society. Either way, it’s up to all of us to preach and practice tolerance and unity, rather than discord, whatever the social means to do it.