Polarisation, identity and affect - conceptualising affective polarisation in multi-party systems
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This paper aims to contribute to the nascent field of research on affective polarisation in liberal democracies by reflecting on the conceptual ambiguities as well as potentials inherent in the concept. Based on a systematic, critical review of 78 articles, I discuss three main ambiguities in the current literature on affective polarisation in multi-party democracies. Those concern firstly, the object of dislike; secondly, the nature of dislike; and thirdly, how to make sense of the concept of “polarisation” in the context of affective polarisation. I then propose to use the existing ambiguities as a basis to work towards a more nuanced conceptualisation of affective polarisation which allows us to distinguish it from neighbouring concepts and to further differentiate between different constellations and degrees of affective polarisation. I conclude by arguing in favour of taking a broader approach to studying affective polarisation than done so far, and by suggesting some directions for future research.
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Until recently, cross-national studies were more likely to rely on the likes/dislikes measure, while social distance and trait measures were more likely to be included in single-country studies.
“Until recently, however, data availability has meant that cross-national studies were more likely to rely on the likes/dislikes measure, while social distance and trait measures were more likely to be included in single-country studies (Röllicke, 2023).”
From Measuring affective polarization: Matching concepts to measures (2026) · cites this paper as Röllicke, 2023
The benefit of the likes/dislikes measure is that it has been included in large surveys, offering both longitudinal and cross-national data.
“Parallel to the use of the thermometer scale in American studies, the benefit of the likes/dislikes measure is that it has been included in large surveys, offering both longitudinal (Wagner, 2024) and crossnational data (Röllicke, 2023).”
From Measuring affective polarization: Matching concepts to measures (2026) · cites this paper as Röllicke, 2023
Measures of likes/dislikes capture different aspects of affective polarization than do measures of social distance and traits.
“Just as in the American context, measures of likes/dislikes capture different aspects of affective polarization than do measures of social distance and traits (Röllicke, 2023;Wagner, 2024).”
From Measuring affective polarization: Matching concepts to measures (2026) · cites this paper as Röllicke, 2023
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- Authors
- Röllicke, L.
- Affiliations
- WZB Berlin Social Science Center (DE)
- Corresponding author
- Röllicke, Lena
- ORCID
- Röllicke, Lena
- Venue
- Electoral Studies
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2023-10
- Volume
- 85
- Pages
- 102655
- ISSN
- 0261-3794 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W4385911858
- Cited by
- 62
- References
- 103
- Citations by year
- 2026: 27 · 2025: 17 · 2024: 15 · 2023: 3
- FWCI
- 60.95
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Electoral Studies (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- Econstor (Econstor) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- Social Science Open Access Repository (GESIS – Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- Funders
- Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (390,715,649)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › Electoral Systems and Political Participation
- Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › Populism, Right-Wing Movements
- Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › Political Theory and Democracy
- Keywords
- affective polarization, multiparty system, political identity, affect, dislike, liberal democracy
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