We stress the importance of social structure for polarization along a new cleavage --> policies shaping network segregation matter!

Also see this paper by @jonadejong.bsky.social @jonnekamphorst.bsky.social who come to similar conclusions based on different data/countries. tinyurl.com/47edtwtc

Amazing, congratulations!

Congratulations!

Thanks a lot Mohamed!

Thank you Rense!

Thanks a lot!

Taken together, politically heterogeneous social relationships remain common and reduce partisan animosity. Our findings nuance worries about partisan echo chambers and suggest that partisan division, at the interpersonal level, might not be as widespread and
constitutive as previously thought.

Moreover, we show that 'seeing the other side', casual exposure to a politically diverse set of acquaintances, contributes to correcting the misperceptions that partly fuel animosity. We find both cross-sectional and experimental evidence in favor of this complementary mechanism

Traditionally, close relationships are thought to buffer partisan animosity by exposing citizens to cross-cutting political discussion. We find that heterogeneous discussions still take place frequently, even during a contentious election, and still reduce partisan animosity

Both out-partisan close relationships and out-partisan acquaintances are associated with lower partisan animosity. In the paper, we complement traditional measures of affective polarization with a behavioral-incentived experiment where expressing animosity costs respondents actual money.

Nuancing worries about partisan echo chambers, we first show that both close relationships and acquaintances remain politically heterogeneous, even in today's polarized political climate. Especially acquaintance networks expose US citizens to more diverse political contexts

Thanks Tarek!

Thank you Endre!

Thanks Weverthon!

Thank you Arnout, also for your fantastic supervision!

Dankjewel Sarah!

Thanks a lot Dave!