Pluralistic Collapse: The Structure of Mass Opinion Polarization, 1972-2016

• In Event: 3265 - Social Networks

Abstract

Despite the widespread feeling that the United States has become dramatically more politically polarized, empirical support for such a pattern has been surprisingly elusive. While reporting little evidence of mass polarization, previous studies implicitly assume that such polarization occurs through the amplification or heightening of existing political divisions. This paper investigates a different pathway: polarization that occurs through the broadening of social and political divisions to encompass an increasingly diverse array of opinions and attitudes. The study uses 46 years of data from the General Social Survey to represent opinions and attitudes across a wide array of domains as elements in an evolving belief network. Analyses of this network produce evidence that mass polarization has increased through the collapse of previously cross-cutting divisions to create increasingly broad and encompassing identities organized around political ideology. The structure of American opinion has shifted in measurable and striking ways, with troubling implications for proponents of political and social pluralism.

Author

• Daniel DellaPosta, Pennsylvania State University