What is polarization in the social sciences? A scoping review of reviews

Abstract

The word polarization has gained notoriety both in journalistic headlines and academic publications to explain the social and political conflicts of recent years. Despite its relevance, this concept is used indiscriminately, so its meaning is not always clear. Consequently, this research aims to provide an overview of polarization in the social sciences, in terms of characteristics of polarization, theories, and associated variables that support its academic use. A review of reviews was carried out using the PRISMA methodology. 56 publications from different disciplines and databases were analyzed. The methodological quality of the publications was evaluated using the AMSTAR2 and SANRA instruments. The publications were analyzed by statistical analysis of textual data. Based on these analyses, definitions of three classes and 19 subclasses of polarization were defined. The quality of the reviews was determined, and the variables and theories associated with the phenomenon were specified. Most of the reviews are narratives, which show little methodological systematicity. Similarly, most of the reviews relate to political polarization, and only five variables were found to be inversely related to polarization, which shows how little depolarization has been studied.