Political sectarianism in America
Abstract
Political polarization, a concern in many countries, is especially acrimonious in the United States (see the first box). For decades, scholars have studied polarization as an ideological matter—how strongly Democrats and Republicans diverge vis-à-vis political ideals and policy goals. Such competition among groups in the marketplace of ideas is a hallmark of a healthy democracy. But more recently, researchers have identified a second type of polarization, one focusing less on triumphs of ideas than on dominating the abhorrent supporters of the opposing party (1). This literature has produced a proliferation of insights and constructs but few interdisciplinary efforts to integrate them. We offer such an integration, pinpointing the superordinate construct of political sectarianism and identifying its three core ingredients: othering, aversion, and moralization. We then consider the causes of political sectarianism and its consequences for U.S. society—especially the threat it poses to democracy. Finally, we propose interventions for minimizing its most corrosive aspects.
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Supplementary Material
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References and Notes
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Copyright © 2020, American Association for the Advancement of Science.
This is an article distributed under the terms of the Science Journals Default License.
Acknowledgments
We thank the Kellogg School of Management's Dispute Resolution Research Center and the Institute for Policy Research, both at Northwestern University. We thank S. Matz and A. Wilson for feedback on an earlier draft and T. Brader, D. Costanzo, M. DeBell, L. Harbridge-Yong, E. Groenendyk, M. Levendusky, and S. Westwood for responding to questions.
RE: deep roots of sectarianism
This analysis of political sectarianism focuses on aversion and othering in partisanship (1). An understanding of the evolutionary origin of human cooperative behavior and its potential modern influences on political systems can provide an insightful perspective on sectarianism in this and related (2) proximal sociological studies. Affiliative behaviors that identify group membership likely evolved in the context of parochial altruism, particularly in respect to in-group cooperation and out-group aggression (3). Partisanship can take precedence over personal health and community safety through the signaling value of risky, high-cost behaviors such as refusing to wear a mask or comply with physical distancing. As in religious rituals, these acts demonstrate honest commitment to social cause (4). Religion is indeed second to political affiliation in traditional sectarianism, and a powerful force of in-group love and out-group hate (1). Behavior exhibited during the pandemic concerns disregard for COVID-19 guidelines that may incur personal health risks as well as aggressive response toward advisory-compliant groups that together congeal political identity. Parochial altruism and honest signaling thus appear to be deep sociobiological foundations of political sectarianism.
References
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RE: The Use of America
This is a provocative and compelling article. YET: The United States seems to expropriated the general term America for the United States of America. This struck me as I read the first box that indicated " Four nations—America, Canada, New Zealand, and Switzerland—exhibit increasing sectarianism over time ..." Canada in part of geographic America, as is Belize, Columbia, Chile. Both North and South America. We need to consider the use of this term and be more inclusive.