Critical Thought

The two faces of polarisation and one remedy

The last 5 years have been a showcase in political theatre: people screaming past each other, the devolution of reasoned debate, and the rise of social media mobs who often trade in volume rather than sense.

There has been much talk of unprecedented polarisation and a “divided Britain”. Most of us agree with this assessment and see evidence of it each day.

But what are we polarised about exactly? The assumption might be that we simply cannot see eye-to-eye on issues. This is known as issue polarisation: the divisions around what policies we should enact to deal with various issues, from immigration to the environment.