Unexpected Democrats? Protecting Democratic Norms Given Affective Polarization

• In Event: Political Violence in Democracies

Abstract

Existing research largely showcases the negative consequences of affective polarization on democracy and also raises concerns that affect could turn into violence. Much in contrast, we emphasize that the perception of affective polarization can bring the boundaries of democracies to light. Thereby we understand affective polarization as a social norm: Given that individuals use the behaviors of others as a reference point for their own behavior, observing the affective rejection of non-democrats installs the idea of boundaries in democratic discourses. In contrast, the absence of such rejection in highly affectively polarized environments leads to an increase of undemocratic behavior and potentially to the marginalization of groups. In this pre-registered study, we test our hypotheses using a vignette experiment using real world intergroup conflicts in the German context, where we manipulate observed affective rejection of undemocratic actors. This study shows one of the potential benefits of growing affective polarization : the activation of the democracy “referee” in citizens.

Authors

• Morgan Le Corre Juratic, Aarhus University

• Markus Wagner, University of Vienna

• Daniel Bischof, Aarhus University