Enduring divides? : social networks and the entrenchment of political polarization
| dc.contributor.author | DE JONG, Jona Franciscus | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2024-11-05T10:38:46Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2024-11-05T10:38:46Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2024 | |
| dc.description | Defence date: 31 October 2024 | en |
| dc.description | Examining Board: Prof. Hanspeter Kriesi (European University Institute, Supervisor); Prof. Arnout van de Rijt (European University Institute, Supervisor); Prof. Delia Baldassarri (New York University); Prof. Silja Häusermann (University of Zurich) | en |
| dc.description | Jona Franciscus De Jong has been awarded with the 2025 Linz Rokkan Prize for the best European University Institute doctoral thesis in Political sociology | |
| dc.description.abstract | This thesis advances a relational approach to study the durability of sociocultural polarization between citizens with and without tertiary education in Western democracies, and the severity of partisan animosity in the United States. The broader question is whether these represent enduring lines of division between cohesive social groups with clear identities, or more ephemeral phenomena that will not structure politics for decades to come, let alone cause excessive political conflict. To understand the durability of educational divides, we lack clarity on what is creating cohesive collectives out of citizens with similar educational experiences, especially given the waning of unions and churches that played an important role in creating past collectives. To understand the severity of mass-level partisan conflict, the question is whether partisanship is currently eclipsing other social identities in informing social relationship formation, which can cause widespread social separation and excessive political division. This thesis addresses both questions by advancing a relational approach, studying the importance people attribute to education levels and partisanship in relationship formation, the educational and partisan composition of social networks, and the role played by social network composition in exacerbating or moderating group-based political division. Chapters 2 and 3 focus on educational divides and propose that educationally homogeneous social networks have partly supplanted formal organizations in strengthening and reinforcing initial education-based differences, thereby creating cohesive collectives which consistently care about sociocultural issues, and durably vote for new left and far right parties, suggesting persistent sociocultural conflict. Chapters 4 and 5 shift to partisan divides. In contrast to much current literature, we find little evidence that partisanship supersedes other considerations in real-world relationship formation. Rather, social networks remain politically heterogeneous and heterogeneous networks buffer partisan animosity. These results suggest that mass-level partisan animosity is not as severe as previously thought. | en |
| dc.description.version | Chapter 2 'Separated by degrees: social closure by education levels strengthens contemporary political divides' of the PhD thesis draws upon an earlier version published as an article 'Separated by degrees : social closure by education levels strengthens contemporary political divides' (2024) in the journal 'Comparative political studies' | en |
| dc.description.version | Chapter 5 'Cross-partisan discussions reduced partisan animosity between UK voters, but less so when they disagreed' of the PhD thesis was publisehd as an article 'Cross-partisan discussions reduced political polarization between UK voters, but less so when they disagreed' (2024) in the journal 'Communications psychology'. | en |
| dc.format.mimetype | application/pdf | en |
| dc.identifier.citation | Florence : European University Institute, 2024 | en |
| dc.identifier.doi | 10.2870/0243752 | en |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://hdl.handle.net/1814/77425 | |
| dc.language.iso | en | en |
| dc.orcid.upload | false | * |
| dc.publisher | European University Institute | en |
| dc.relation.haspart | https://hdl.handle.net/1814/77994 | en |
| dc.relation.ispartofseries | EUI | en |
| dc.relation.ispartofseries | SPS | en |
| dc.relation.ispartofseries | PhD Thesis | en |
| dc.relation.replaces | https://hdl.handle.net/1814/77995 | en |
| dc.rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess | en |
| dc.subject.lcsh | Social networks | |
| dc.subject.lcsh | Social sciences -- Network analysis | |
| dc.subject.lcsh | Polarization (Social sciences) -- Political aspects | |
| dc.title | Enduring divides? : social networks and the entrenchment of political polarization | en |
| dc.type | Thesis | en |
| dspace.entity.type | Publication | |
| eui.subscribe.skip | true | |
| person.identifier.orcid | 0000-0001-6942-4547 | |
| person.identifier.other | 45177 | |
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