Compulsory vaccination and lockdown: does Corona divide?

Surprising results on political polarization

Created: 12/21/2021, 1:26 PM

From: Cindy Boden

Jochen Roose (r.) From the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung examined political polarization in Germany.

© Lino Mirgeler / dpa / Jörg Klam

Polarization in Germany is always an issue.

A recent study identifies tendencies according to which caution seems advisable.

The author explains what is particularly noteworthy.

Berlin - polarization, a divided society, the separation in camps: In Germany, too, there has been intensive discussion for years about how severely the community is torn - be it with regard to individual issues or within families.

Brexit, the elections of Donald Trump and Joe Biden as well as the issues of climate and migration are just a few international examples that show contradictions in societies.

Polarization in Germany: Merkel expressed a wish

In a strongly polarized society, the discourse becomes difficult. Thoughts like “He who is not for us is against us” become established. It is hardly possible to find similarities, the rejection predominates - made clear by formulations such as “that one”. If you regularly read comments on social networks, with all the hatred and agitation * you can quickly get the impression that Germany is also splitting into two camps.

Corona increases the presence of division debates again.

The fact that political polarization is by no means a new phenomenon is also made clear by an old government statement by ex-Chancellor Angela Merkel * (CDU).

"I would like this balance to be drawn at the end of this legislative period: Our society has become more humane, divisions and polarizations have been reduced, perhaps even overcome, and cohesion has grown again," she wished on March 21, 2018 in the Bundestag.

Study by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation: "Polarization has not increased in the corona pandemic"

But a current study by the CDU-affiliated Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS) shows: Germany is comparatively strongly polarized - but this is a long-term process and did not come about in a few months. On some political issues, opinions differed more widely. With the AfD and the Greens or the Left, there are two political forces facing each other that are relatively far apart. There researchers find a clear mutual aversion - also with regard to the voters of the parties. The author of the KAS study, election and social researcher Jochen Roose, finds it remarkable how strongly the aversion also relates to people.

And not only that: “What I didn't expect at all is that polarization has not increased in the corona pandemic.

The political camps were

earlier, ”said Roose in an interview with

.

In order to make such statements, a representative survey was carried out again from October 2019 to February 2020 by the opinion research institute Infratest dimap among a total of 3,250 eligible voters in the summer of 2020.

From August to September 2020, the institute again interviewed a total of 1,521 eligible voters by telephone on behalf of the KAS.

Is Corona dividing?

There have been polarizing discussions before, too

These time windows show that the current discussions, for example about compulsory corona vaccination, cannot yet be mapped. So does Corona change something in the polarization of society after all? Roose specifically warns against such expectations. “This assumption that this has now increased massively, it always existed in the past.” Acute discussions pushed earlier debates, which were already perceived as highly divisive, into the background. “In 2020, conspiracy theories and corona restrictions were very polarized and discussed intensively. We also had a relatively strongly polarized discussion, ”the KAS researcher looks back. For the realization that, according to the study, such discussions have not intensified the polarization, Roose makes up a reason: “This is essentially becausethat you no longer have as much awareness of how intense the debates on climate protection and climate change were a year before. "

But the study itself also comes to a split result: The behavior of many people in the corona pandemic * is perceived as inconsiderate. "When asked directly, many cannot see an increase in social cohesion," it even says. On the other hand, however, the statement that people in society are irreconcilably opposed to one another is less likely to be agreed.

How is that to be explained in turn?

"You can always describe the situation in Germany from two sides: The glass is half - whether you want to call it full or empty is a bit of a question of taste," says Roose.

There is still a strong political center with balancing positions.

Many also want to look for a compromise.

"When it comes to polarization, it is not as if it tore Germany into two equal parts."

"Polarization is a self-reinforcing effect" - study on cohesion in society

In a democracy there are always different opinions that are expressed - and that is essential for the continued existence of the system. But polarization is tricky: “Polarization is a self-reinforcing effect. What annoys me about the position of the other side leads to an emotional reaction, leads to my reinforcing my position and tending to reject the other side. And that is perceived the same way on the other side, it reinforces the process again and you get into an escalation spiral, ”says Roose. Everyone therefore has to think again and again where their own limits really lie, where there may still be a common basis.

Otherwise, differences in society can become visible through broken contacts.

And there have already been some such steps, as Roose found out in interviews with respondents: “I was impressed by how pronounced the loss of contact is.

As many say, for example: 'I don't want to have anything to do with AfD voters.'

For society it becomes especially a problem when groups of people are avoided.

Chancellor Scholz on polarization: "Our society is not divided"

All the findings of the study show that German society should be careful when it comes to polarization.

Merkel wanted to reduce the division.

The new Chancellor Olaf Scholz * (SPD) has already declared war on hatred and agitation several times.

In his first government statement on December 15, 2021, however, he once again emphasized his view of things: “Our society is not divided.” To then specify: “We will not allow ourselves to see a tiny minority of uninhibited extremists trying to impose its will on our entire society. ”

Notes on the study

The study by the Konrad-Adenauer Foundation refers to two representative, telephone surveys and 68 guideline-based, qualitative in-depth interviews as well as 24 group discussions.

On the one hand, a total of 3,250 people were interviewed for the surveys from October 2019 to February 2020.

Changes caused by the corona pandemic should be determined by contacting another 1,521 people by phone from August to September 2020.

The polls were carried out by the opinion research institute Infratest dimap, the qualitative interviews by Mauss Research.

The foundation also evaluated other representative surveys.