2025/01/30 by Alina Zumbrunn · 2 voices · 2 citations
Social Sciences · #Gender Politics and Representation #Populism, Right-Wing Movements #Youth Education and Societal Dynamics
paper · doi:10.1080/01402382.2025.2452134
In recent years, the rural–urban divide has gained scientific and public popularity due to its explanatory power in the political sphere. However, less is known about whether and how this political divide also translates into the societal sphere. Therefore, the goal of this article is to investigate affective polarisation with regard to place of living. Using an original survey data set of around 4,000 respondents from September 2022, this article measures and compares affective polarisation between rural, suburban and urban residents in Switzerland. Results show that while ruralites are affectively polarised towards both out-groups, urbanites prefer both out-groups to their own, and suburbanites are only affectively polarised towards urbanites. This one-sided polarisation of rural (and suburban) residents is rooted in place-based identity and resentment about the distribution of political, economic and cultural resources.