Religion, Race, and Polarization: A Social Identity Theory Approach

• In Event: Religious Identities

Abstract

While much has been written about issue polarization and affective polarization, the links between the two types of polarization are relatively unexplored. In addition, while observers have long asserted that racial and religious identities fuel issue polarization, scholarship has presented only mixed conclusions. This paper draws on Social Identity Theory to develop a series of hypotheses about how social group identities impact both forms of polarization, using racial and religious identities as a case study. A key source of polarization is social group antipathy. Because the parties have clear racial and religious images, group conflict becomes mapped onto views of the parties, generating affective polarization. Using data from the Pew Research Center, I show that racial and religious group identities are one factor behind affective polarization. Furthermore, using an original experiment on a sample from Lucid, I show that priming racial or religious group identities leads to increased levels of affective polarization. Group identities also have the potential to lead to issue polarization, although here their impact is limited to issues where respondents have the constraint to connect their group identities to the issue. I first introduce an original measure of issue polarization that asks respondents to react to proposals for liberal-leaning or conservative-leaning changes to current policy on various issues using a standard 0-100 feeling thermometer (thus making my measure of issue polarization analogous to the affective polarization feeling thermometer difference). Using this measure, I show that racial and religious identities are strong predictors of issue polarization on issues among respondents who believe the issue has a racial or religious dimension. Finally, again using an original survey experiment conducted on a sample from Lucid, I show that priming racial and religious identities leads to increased issue polarization. The results link the affective and issue polarization literatures, and provide a systematic way of understanding how group identities fuel polarization. The findings closely echo the theme of the conference by showing how racial and religious identities are fueling both affective and issue polarization.

Authors

• Jeremiah Castle, Metropolitan State University of Denver

• Kyla Stepp, Central Michigan University