AUTHOR=Bliuc Ana-Maria , Bouguettaya Ayoub , Felise Kallam D. 

TITLE=Online Intergroup Polarization Across Political Fault Lines: An Integrative Review

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychology

VOLUME=Volume 12 - 2021

YEAR=2021

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.641215

DOI=10.3389/fpsyg.2021.641215

ISSN=1664-1078

ABSTRACT=We revisit the construct of political polarisation and current distinctions between issue-driven and affective polarisation.  Based on our review of recent research on polarisation from psychology, political science, and communication, we propose to treat polarisation as a process that integrates the concepts of social identification (collective self-definition) with ideologically opposed camps - that is, psychological groups based on support or opposition to specific socio-political issues and policies (related to issue-driven polarisation), and that of ideological and psychological distancing between groups (related to affective polarisation). Furthermore, we discuss the foundations of polarising groups - and more specifically, the role of conflicting collective narratives about social reality in providing an initial platform for polarisation in a technologically networked world. In particular, we highlight the importance of online media in facilitating and enhancing polarisation between ideologically opposed camps. As a theoretical contribution, the review provides a more functional conceptualisation of polarisation that can explain how polarisation may occur across partisan fault lines and in domains outside of politics. We conclude with a discussion of new pathways to the study of polarisation which this integrative conceptualisation opens.