E Pluribus Unum? Family Feuds, Political Polarization, and Reconciliation

• In Event: Private Experiences with Public Consequences

Abstract

In January 2024, former President Donald Trump urged “our country to come together” following his Iowa primary win, echoing President Biden’s call for “unity” in his January 2021 inaugural address (Fox News, 2024; The White House, 2021). Yet the perils of polarization threaten such ideals. A 2022 poll by the New York Times and Siena College, for example, found that 19 percent of voters shared that politics had hurt their interpersonal relationships (Homans & McFadden, 2022). Meanwhile, a 2022 Pew Research Center poll found that at the party level, there is more ideological distance between Republicans and Democrats today than in the past 50 years (Desilver, 2022). Given such divides, how might we pursue such aspirations of indivisibility? This research project explores the challenges and possibilities for ‘family unity,’ both interpersonally and on the societal level, in order to locate possible routes to change.

In this study, the literature review explores theories of American nationalism and political polarization, with attention to the role of the media and psychological concepts of identity relative to such phenomena. The conceptual framework, meanwhile, draws on theories of reconciliation that understand unity as both a process and normative goal that occurs at multiple various levels of society (Clegg, 2007; Little, 2012). From this perspective, we question both how Americans describe their experiences with political polarization, and how Americans might re-imagine unity in a time of polarization.

We apply a qualitative research methodology that follows a two-phased, two-part approach to answer these research questions. First, we identify two time periods for analysis - 2016-2020 and 2021-2024 - in order to compare changes over time. Secondly, each phase incorporates a thematic and discursive analysis of purposefully sampled published and elite interviews that feature both liberal and conservative voices. Over 20 published interviews, identified through an intensity sampling strategy, explore interpersonal polarization and possibilities for unity among individual friends and family members. Additionally, over 15 elite interviews identified through snowball sampling explore themes of renovation and reimagination at the societal level. Data collection for these elite interviews initially occurred in Spring 2021, and follow-up interviews are ongoing (Spring 2024). Ultimately, findings from these published and elite interviews will be put into dialogue with each other, with attention paid to their evolution over time.

Preliminary results suggest that challenges to unity include themes of value difference, dehumanization, distance, and ‘dollars,’ or the role of money in politics. Meanwhile, themes of certainty, contact, rehumanization, and shared values may offer pathways to compromise. Initial findings, however, suggest that both ‘top-down’ and ‘bottom-up’ efforts are required for us to truly reimagine reconciliation.

This study contributes to the literature on political psychology, including questions of individual and social cohesion, nationalism, and conflict resolution, as well as research on political polarization and conflict resolution - topics of ongoing relevance, especially in the year of a U.S. national election.

Author

• Molly Frizzell, University of Southern California (USC)