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Category: Methods and Measures

Description: In the context of growing polarization across Europe, the international research project “Inclusivity norms to counter polarization in European societies” (INCLUSIVITY) aims to understand current polarization dynamics in European societies and how to counter them. In particular, it examines the role that “inclusivity norms” (social norms that promote equality-based respect, dialogue, and unity) can play in mitigating polarization and promoting tolerance, inter-group contact, and cooperation. The four-year INCLUSIVITY research project, which was funded by the Volkswagen Foundation, is conducted by an international consortium of five research teams from four European countries with expertise in sociology, anthropology, and social psychology. One of these teams is the COALESCE Lab (Laboratory for the Computational Analysis of Egonetworks, Social Cohesion, and Exclusion), based at the GRAFO research group at the Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology of the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB). Within the project, the COALESCE Lab is responsible for conducting a study (Work Package 3) about the dynamics of political polarization in people’s everyday interpersonal networks in Catalonia (Spain). More specifically, the study analyzes how people experience and manage political differences with people around them (including family, friends, coworkers, and other acquaintances) in their everyday lives. This study is directed by Professor Miranda J. Lubbers (co-PI of the project), who designed the study and implemented it together with postdoctoral researcher Alejandro Ciordia. The study collects new data in two stages. In the first stage, in-depth interviews were held with a varied sample of 76 citizens of Catalonia, about their experiences and management of political differences in their everyday social relationships (in their “personal network”). We aimed to explore how citizens manage political differences in their relationships and which social norms they adopt when navigating these differences in their everyday lives. In the second stage, we assess the degree of societal consensus around the norms for managing ideological differences observed in the first stage, through an online survey. This survey will be conducted in 2024 with a large representative sample of the population of Catalonia. This report was written after the first stage. It summarizes the most important characteristics of the data collected for this work package through in-depth personal network interviews. It is written to inform the participants of the research and other interested people about our preliminary findings.