J 2024

How Does the "Us" versus "Them" Polarization Work? Capturing Political Antagonism with the Political Antagonism Scale

HRBKOVÁ, Lenka, Jakub MACEK and Alena MACKOVÁ

Basic information

Original name

How Does the "Us" versus "Them" Polarization Work? Capturing Political Antagonism with the Political Antagonism Scale

Authors

Edition

East European Politics and Societies: and Cultures, Thousand Oaks, SAGE Publications, 2024, 0888-3254

Other information

Language

English

Type of outcome

Článek v odborném periodiku

Field of Study

50601 Political science

Country of publisher

United States of America

Confidentiality degree

není předmětem státního či obchodního tajemství

References:

Impact factor

Impact factor: 0.700 in 2022

Organization unit

Faculty of Social Studies

DOI

UT WoS

001142381800001

Keywords in English

polarization; antagonism; political conflict; survey measurement; Czech Republic

Tags

Tags

International impact, Reviewed
Změněno: 5/6/2024 09:52, Mgr. Blanka Farkašová

Abstract

V originále

This article introduces and validates a Political Antagonism Scale (PAS) aimed at capturing politically motivated antagonism among people in survey research. Recent trends indicate a rise in politically motivated polarization across various countries. This polarization often transcends mere ideological distance, fostering an identity-based "Us" versus "Them" political perspective. Consequently, this transforms the traditional agonistic political competition into a deeply adversarial antagonistic relationship, wherein political counterparts are viewed as enemies. Such conflict dynamics may have serious consequences for democratic politics and should be examined by scholars of political polarization across different political contexts and at different time points. However, a comprehensive survey tool addressing this form of polarization has been lacking. The PAS is designed to capture the complex nature of political antagonism and target individual antagonization towards their political outgroups on the level of social groups, political elites, the media, and everyday life. In addition, we present a regression model identifying potential sources of political antagonism. Our findings highlight the significant association between political antagonization and a prevailing sense of ontological insecurity.

Links

GA19-24724S, research and development project
Name: Politická polarizace v České republice: Případ vícestranického systému
Investor: Czech Science Foundation