Enduring divides? : social networks and the entrenchment of political polarization

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.