Polarizados

The most comprehensive investigation to date into one of the biggest problems of our time. The term polarization is on the lips of all analysts of local and international political news. But why are societies today so much more divided in their beliefs and political preferences than a decade ago? Luis Miller, a sociologist specializing in the study of polarization, has spent more than twenty years trying to understand why Spain is among the most fragmented countries in the world. This book is the result of that attempt. Polarizados synthesizes, in informative language, the most complete and up-to-date academic studies on polarization in Spain. Miller begins by reviewing what we understand by this concept and what are the sociological trends that have led us to the current climate of political confrontation, with social identities such as gender, nationality or class at the center of the phenomenon. This essay offers an x-ray of the current political division in the country and looks for its causes in economic factors: unemployment and inequality -the greatest breeding ground for polarization-, as well as the instigation by the political parties of the division. Miller addresses the most negative consequences of polarization and its possible solutions, which involve strengthening civil society and strengthening the institutions that allow increasingly diverse social groups to coexist in peace. Despite the climate of extreme political tension during the current legislature, this book sends out an optimistic message: understanding, even agreements, between politicians of very different ideologies is possible, as long as they do not start from an imposition disguised as consensus.