Group-based public opinion polarisation in multi-party systems

11Citations
Citations of this article
34Readers
Mendeley users who have this article in their library.

This article is free to access.

Abstract

Public opinion polarisation can impair society’s ability to reach a democratic consensus in different political issue areas. This appears particularly true when the polarisation of opinions coincides with clearly identifiable social groups. The literature on public opinion polarisation has mostly focussed on the US two-party context. We lack concepts and measures that can be adapted to European countries with multi-party systems and multi-layered group identities. This article proposes a conceptualisation of polarisation between groups in society. It presents a measure that captures the overlap of ideology distributions between groups. The two-step empirical framework includes hierarchical IRT models and a measure for dissimilarity of distributions. The second part presents an empirical application of the measure based on survey data from Switzerland (1994–2016), which reveals insightful dynamics of public opinion polarisation between party supporters and education groups.

References Powered by Scopus

Cultural backlash: Trump, Brexit, and authoritarian populism

2049Citations
N/AReaders
Get full text

Affect, not ideology: A social identity perspective on polarization

1786Citations
N/AReaders
Get full text

The origins and consequences of affective polarization in the United States

1465Citations
N/AReaders
Get full text

Cited by Powered by Scopus

The mobilisation potential of anti-containment protests in Germany

22Citations
N/AReaders
Get full text

Cleavage politics, polarisation and participation in Western Europe

13Citations
N/AReaders
Get full text

Switzerland’s intricate differentiated integration with the European Union: bringing governance (back) in

4Citations
N/AReaders
Get full text

Register to see more suggestions

Mendeley helps you to discover research relevant for your work.

Already have an account?

Cite

CITATION STYLE

APA

Traber, D., Stoetzer, L. F., & Burri, T. (2023). Group-based public opinion polarisation in multi-party systems. West European Politics, 46(4), 652–677. https://doi.org/10.1080/01402382.2022.2110376

Readers' Seniority

Tooltip

PhD / Post grad / Masters / Doc 8

57%

Lecturer / Post doc 4

29%

Professor / Associate Prof. 1

7%

Researcher 1

7%

Readers' Discipline

Tooltip

Social Sciences 14

82%

Physics and Astronomy 1

6%

Business, Management and Accounting 1

6%

Psychology 1

6%

Article Metrics

Tooltip
Social Media
Shares, Likes & Comments: 9

Save time finding and organizing research with Mendeley

Sign up for free