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Reposted by Felix Grünewald

Cas Ⓜ️udde @casmudde.bsky.social · 7d

As long as the far right shapes public opinion, and mainstream parties follow public opinion, the far right dominates politics, whether in government or not.

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Reposted by Felix Grünewald

Natascha Strobl @nataschastrobl.bsky.social · 25d

Viele, die das Glück hatten mit Online-Subkulturen noch nie in Kontakt gekommen zu sein, können sich nicht vorstellen wie das aussieht.

Ihr müsst euch von d Idee verabschieden, d da eine konsistente, ordentliche Ideologie u ein klares, strategisches Motiv hinter Handlungen steht.

Das ist es nicht.

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Felix Grünewald @felixgruenewald.bsky.social · Sep 2

Once again, the credit for the research to our latest updates go out to our RA, Lina Zündorf.
Our team consists of @aleininger.bsky.social and Nelly Buntfuß, as well as our second RA, Jonas Voelzke.

polarization.wiki

Encyclopedia of Polarization

An Encyclopedia of Polarization

polarization.wiki

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Felix Grünewald @felixgruenewald.bsky.social · Sep 2

gitlab.com/felixgruenew...

The code for this website is also available online, if you are interested in how any of this works.

Felix Grünewald / encyclopediaofpolarization · GitLab

GitLab.com

gitlab.com

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Felix Grünewald @felixgruenewald.bsky.social · Sep 2

The use-cases section includes every article we cite and, beyond that, a large selection of articles that apply polarization measures.

If you feel like a paper or measure (maybe yours) is missing in our collection, please feel free to reach out to us :)

An unrequited conflict
Affective polarisation among ruralites, suburbanites and
urbanites in Switzerland
Alina Zumbrunn
West European Politics. 2025

Camps, not just parties
The dynamic foundations of affective polarization in
multi-party systems
Ivo Bantel
Electoral Studies. 2023

Can't We All Just Get Along?
How Women MPs Can Ameliorate Affective Polarization in
Western Publics
James Adams, David Bracken, Noam Gidron, Will
Horne, Diana Z. O'brien, Kaitlin Senk
American Political Science Review. 2023

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Felix Grünewald @felixgruenewald.bsky.social · Sep 2

polarization.wiki/projects/pol...

polaR App

All data mentioned in the encyclopedia and collected using our R package can be viewed using the shinyapp below. You can choose the measures, countries and datasets, and in some cases also the issue d...

polarization.wiki

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Felix Grünewald @felixgruenewald.bsky.social · Sep 2

Our R-package, polaR, makes all the code used for the visualizations available via Github. If you only want to download the data, the shiny app lets you download a csv-file with your individual sample.

Measures
'polaR' includes a range of different measures that can be computed with various
datasets. Some measures, like the CSES polarization index, are linked to a specific
dataset. Others, like the standard deviation of issue self-placements of respondents
or spread of party positions, can be computed with different data sources. Wherever
it is possible to compute a measure, the package offers the possibility to do so.

Code block:
sd_mass <- sd_mass (dataset = cses, issue = "leftright")
sd_mass <- sd_mass (dataset = ess, issue = "leftright")

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Felix Grünewald @felixgruenewald.bsky.social · Sep 2

(In this most recent update, we added information on coefficients of agreement, as proposed by van der Eijk (2001), as well as further examples of the social distance scale. They are soon to be implemented in the R-package as well)

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Felix Grünewald @felixgruenewald.bsky.social · Sep 2

We collected all the measures that we used for a review paper in one dataset and compiled them into this encyclopedia. You can find origins, definitions, but also the data: our interactive shiny app allows you to visualize trends of polarization with different measures, datasets and country samples.

Screenshot from website:

API
Affective Polarization Index
Polarization: Affective
Ma...
Vertical

Coefficients of Agreement
Coefficients of Agreement
Polarization: Ideological
Issue

Dispersion
(Weighted) Party System Dispersion
Polarization: Ideological
Elite

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Felix Grünewald @felixgruenewald.bsky.social · Sep 2

We have once again updated our encyclopedia of polarisation and I will take it as an opportunity to introduce some of the features again.

On ❄️ polarization.wiki you can find descriptions, formulas, data and applications of the most common measurements of political polarization.

Encyclopedia of Polarization

An Encyclopedia of Polarization

polarization.wiki

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Reposted by Felix Grünewald

Cas Ⓜ️udde @casmudde.bsky.social · May 14

This obsession is with “young men turning to the right” is everything that is wrong with the discussion about the far right.

It is not just an inadequate read of what is happening, and a bias towards the male norm, but it also normalizes the far right and obscures support for inclusive politics. 🧵

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Reposted by Felix Grünewald

Sam Freedman @samfr.bsky.social · May 6

A question that I haven't heard a good answer to: if cutting migration by a third in a year hasn't changed the narrative on it at all - what would make you think cutting it by another third (or half] would?

Sunder Katwala (sundersays) @sundersays.bsky.social · May 6

Immigration fell by a third in the 9 months after General Election. (From 1.2m visas to 800k in year to March 2025). The new lower headline migration figure (the 12 months of 2024) will come out 10 days after the white paper. Saying net migration is 700k (last stat: year to June 2024) is out of date

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Felix Grünewald @felixgruenewald.bsky.social · May 5

Also using this to share this very good text: doi.org/10.1177/1461...

Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.

doi.org

Felix Grünewald @felixgruenewald.bsky.social · May 5

We shouldn’t criticize or try to soften the reaction to regressive/hostile politics. If we want to talk about dislike, we need to know what it is based on.

(and maybe outgroup homogeneity perception is one factor that shows how dislike is not based on policy differences but on identity mechanisms)

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Felix Grünewald @felixgruenewald.bsky.social · May 5

(Not) just to bump my paper back into your feeds: I believe this to be a very important point, it is not only about if and how strongly we dislike other groups, but also why. There are valid reasons to feel negative or be emotional, if that group promotes policies that are harmful to you or others.

Felix Grünewald @felixgruenewald.bsky.social · May 1

The findings suggest that we should consider homogeneity perception in our discussions about intergroup relations. Especially when talking about affective polarization and outgroup animus: Dislike that is based on homogeneity perception is not based on actual political differences, but on identity.

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Reposted by Felix Grünewald

Jane H @themothershipau.bsky.social · May 2

Interesting

Felix Grünewald @felixgruenewald.bsky.social · May 1

Here we go 🍎 as my first paper got published at WEP this week!
I show that political out-groups are perceived to be more homogeneous and that this is driving negative feelings and (un)willingness to vote for the other group.
It is open access, so you can give it a read here: doi.org/10.1080/0140...

Cover page of the article, titled "Seen one, seen 'em all: political outgroup homogeneity and negative affect", including the abstract:
Outgroup homogeneity, the perception of lower trait variability in the outgroup, is an important psychological mechanism in intergroup relations. This concept is broadly applied to the context of political left-right party camps. A more homogenous perception of the outcamp limits perceived similarities and connections and could thereby foster negative impressions. This study examines whether the outcamp is generally perceived as more homogeneous than the incamp, if this perception is driving negative affect and lastly, whether it reduces the likelihood of voting for the other camp. Support is found for all three assumptions using cross-sectional data from the full Comparative Study of Electoral Systems (CSES) and causal evidence from the German Longitudinal Election Study (GLES). Outgroup homogeneity emerges as a crucial aspect of political intergroup relations. It also provides further context to findings on affective polarization by identifying a form of outgroup dislike that is rooted in group identities rather than factual disagreement.

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Felix Grünewald @felixgruenewald.bsky.social · May 1

Danke, Katjana! :)

Felix Grünewald @felixgruenewald.bsky.social · May 1

And if you don't want to scroll back up, here is the paper, again: doi.org/10.1080/0140...

‘Seen one, seen ‘em all’: political outgroup homogeneity and negative affect

Outgroup homogeneity, the perception of lower trait variability in the outgroup, is an important psychological mechanism in intergroup relations. This concept is broadly applied to the context of p...

doi.org

Felix Grünewald @felixgruenewald.bsky.social · May 1

The findings suggest that we should consider homogeneity perception in our discussions about intergroup relations. Especially when talking about affective polarization and outgroup animus: Dislike that is based on homogeneity perception is not based on actual political differences, but on identity.

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Felix Grünewald @felixgruenewald.bsky.social · May 1

I believe this might be explained by extrapolation of bad experiences to a group of parties, but also by fewer perceived connection points to the other camp. There's evidence for at least the 2nd point: the likelihood to switch votes across camps decreases w stronger outgroup homogeneity perception.

A figure that shows the predicted probability to switch votes to the out-party-camp at different levels of homogeneity perception, measured as the standard deviation of the perception of party positions in that camp. It shows that with a lower standard deviation (i.e., more homogenous perception), the probability to switch votes is lower.
The plot also differentiates between members of the left and right camp, although there is no meaningful difference in how these groups behave in this context.
This figure is based on CSES data, across all five waves.

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Felix Grünewald @felixgruenewald.bsky.social · May 1

Hold tight because it doesn’t stop there, I can also show that the perception of homogeneity is connected to negative feelings in the outcome. The more homogenous you perceive the others, the less you like them. This also holds across time with different waves of the @gles.bsky.social.

A figure that shows the predicted feeling towards the out-party-camp at different levels of homogeneity perception, measured as the standard deviation of the perception of party positions in that camp. It shows that with a lower standard deviation (i.e., more homogenous perception), the feeling towards the outcamp is more negative.
The plot also differentiates between members of the left and right camp, although there is no meaningful difference in how these groups behave in this context.
This figure is based on CSES data, across all five waves.

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Felix Grünewald @felixgruenewald.bsky.social · May 1

Outgroup homogeneity is a known concept in Psychology and I apply it to left-right party camps (and others for anyone who looks at the appendix). Parties in the outcamp are perceived as closer 1) than they perceive themselves to be and 2) than those in the own camp.

A plot showing the perception of in- and out-party-camp homogeneity in twelve different countries. Homogeneity is measured as the standard deviation of perceived left-right positions of the parties in each camp. In most countries and most years, the incamp is perceived with a higher standard deviation of these positions, meaning that it is perceived as less homogeneous than the outcamp.
This figure is based on a subsample of CSES data, across all five waves.

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Felix Grünewald @felixgruenewald.bsky.social · May 1

Here we go 🍎 as my first paper got published at WEP this week!
I show that political out-groups are perceived to be more homogeneous and that this is driving negative feelings and (un)willingness to vote for the other group.
It is open access, so you can give it a read here: doi.org/10.1080/0140...

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Reposted by Felix Grünewald

Arndt Leininger @aleininger.bsky.social · Apr 29

Very happy and proud to see @felixgruenewald.bsky.social 's paper "‘Seen one, seen ‘em all’: political outgroup homogeneity and negative affect" in print @wepsocial.bsky.social. One of the first outputs of our @dfg.de funded project on polarization. Check it out, it's #openaccess

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Reposted by Felix Grünewald

Gilda Sahebi @gildasahebi.bsky.social · Mar 31

„… ob das Delikt den Demokratieschaden rechtfertigt.“
Ich würde denken, dass es der Demokratie auch schadet, wenn der Justiz hier eine politische Motivation unterstellt wird, ohne Belege dafür zu haben. Genau das machen Trump, Höcke und andere autoritäre Kräfte.
Schwierige Aussage ohne Hinweise.

Post von Jochen Bittner auf X: Ich habe nicht die geringste Ahnung von französischem Recht und wie dieses Urteil in dessen Kontext steht.
Aber die politische Wirkung wird sein, dass es hier weniger um die Veruntreuung von Geld geht als um die Unterschlagung von Wählerstimmen. Was die berechtigte Frage aufwirft, ob das Delikt den Demokratieschaden rechtfertigt. #MarineLePen

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