Why Can’t We Agree on Anything Anymore? Polarisation and Hot Politics

It has become normal to write people off over their politics. Dating apps let you filter out the other side before a first message, families steer around certain topics over Christmas dinner, and online, the smallest disagreement can curdle into contempt. We appear more divided than ever — but are we really?

Social scientists have found that, while affective polarisation (how much we simply dislike the other side) has grown rapidly, the actual ideological polarisation (how far apart our views genuinely are) is often smaller than it feels. Much of what we experience as deep division may instead be “hot politics”: a handful of triggering issues, amplified by the media and political entrepreneurs, that blow moral outrage out of all proportion.

Yet the stakes for democracy are real. A healthy democracy needs citizens willing to tolerate other views. But how far should that tolerance extend to those who are themselves intolerant? Where is the line between robust disagreement and a genuine threat to democracy?

GOSAS and Glasgow Skeptics are joining forces for an event consisting of a short talk followed by active discussion, where we will engage with these important issues in a spirit of convivial curiosity. Join us to gain a clearer shared understanding of what’s really dividing us, and have some fun in the process!