What are the Causes of Political Polarization?

Political polarization, or the rise of extreme and fixated viewpoints, is as old as human history and possibly inevitable as societies grow long in the tooth. The Roman Empire, the kingdoms of China, the Islamic world with its Sunni/Shia divide, and 1920s Germany all manifested deep polarization before they fragmented and collapsed.

Today, we see deep and rising polarization in many countries—the United States being possibly the most salient example. Having arisen seemingly overnight and from a world in which there was less fragmentation, especially in the public sphere, it can also feel inexplicable. Most of us can correctly point to an outsize role of social media in fueling this phenomenon. Much polarized squabbling takes place online. But given the extent of the division wrought and the speed in which it has consolidated, could that be the only cause? After all, social media facilitated by digital technology didn’t exist in ancient times.

As in other areas of life, polarization has no single cause. It arises from a combination of different factors and conditions. In addressing this dynamic the first step is to identify its roots, specifically in Western countries today. Behind much polarization are factors that many are unaware of: civilizational decline, the rise of left-brain thinking, and high states of anxiety among the populace.

In a series of blog posts to follow we’ll explore these causes. We’ll look at the larger and more “upstream” factors first before examining the more immediate causes propelling polarization.

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Read our next post in this series: Causes of Polarization: Civilizational Decline.