{"id":3780,"date":"2025-04-02T18:24:05","date_gmt":"2025-04-02T18:24:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aomtodayprod.wpenginepowered.com\/?p=3780"},"modified":"2025-12-23T12:30:44","modified_gmt":"2025-12-23T12:30:44","slug":"navigating-political-polarization","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/navigating-political-polarization\/","title":{"rendered":"Navigating Political Polarization"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Daniel Butcher<\/a><\/p>\n

Numerous studies show that democracy has been in decline in many nations worldwide in recent years, and polarization exacerbates the difficulty of reforming political systems that many people are fed up with.<\/p>\n

Academy of Management Scholar Wendy Smith<\/a> of the University of Delaware said that a key challenge that citizens are confronting worldwide is that political systems work better if people across the ideological spectrum of beliefs can value and accommodate different value systems, perspectives, and approaches and set aside those differences to engage in more holistic, productive, solutions-oriented conversations.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur world has really big problems,\u201d Smith said. \u201cEffectively solving these problems requires engaging with multiple diverse voices; that is the value of civic discourse.<\/p>\n

\u201cInstead of solving the complex problems that the world faces, politicians and individual citizens are just pointing their fingers at one another, leading to polarization,\u201d she said. \u201cSocial media only reinforces this polarization, which cyclically makes the problems worse.\u201d<\/p>\n

While civic discourse can solve problems, effectively connecting across diverse perspectives is challenging.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople understand that shouting from different soapboxes across politically opposing perspectives is polarizing and detrimental,\u201d Smith said. \u201cYet it remains challenging to sit down and respectfully listen to someone with a different point of view.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smith pointed out that leaders and individuals can learn both\/and thinking skills that can more effectively enable such discourse.<\/p>\n

\u201cSolving our problems depends on bringing together multiple, diverse perspectives,\u201d Smith said. \u201cTo do so, people need to learn how to embrace both\/and thinking\u2014valuing differences, listening to one another, and seeking integrative approaches.
\n\u201cOur research shows that these are skills that people can learn over time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pew Research Center found that the ideological gap between the political right wing and left wing is wider in the United State than in other countries on many issues, including abortion, climate change, and same-sex marriage. In a 2022 survey conducted by the nonpartisan fact tank, 88% of Americans said that there are strong conflicts in the country between people who support different political parties, indicating they\u2019re keenly conscious of their internal divisions.<\/p>\n

These days, what it takes to get into office is not what it takes to govern effectively. It takes expressing extreme positions to get elected, whereas it requires being in conversation across party lines to govern effectively. Citizens in democratic countries should consider looking themselves in the mirror before simply blaming politicians from political parties they don\u2019t support for the systemic dysfunction. Unfortunately, there are no easy answers.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe look to politicians, and we lay the blame on them, but we no longer have the townhall meetings, where people who could trust one another because they were neighbors and yet have different opinions and still be in conversation with one another,\u201d Smith said. \u201cToday, we\u2019re shouting on social-media platforms, and as a result, the populace doesn\u2019t have the competency to have these difficult conversations with people who disagree with them politically, and that\u2019s problematic.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very idealized, but we need to find ways to use technology to connect with each other, not to sit behind our screens and no longer be in conversation, but to use it to be in deeper conversation with people that are different from us,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd that\u2019s hard\u2014it\u2019s just hard.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Daniel Butcher Numerous studies show that democracy has been in decline in many nations worldwide in recent years, and polarization exacerbates the difficulty of reforming political systems that many people are fed up with. Academy of Management Scholar Wendy Smith of the University of Delaware said that a key challenge that citizens are confronting […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":8209,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[71,60,72,342],"tags":[],"sp_smart_badges":[],"ppma_author":[70],"class_list":["post-3780","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-communicating","category-diversity","category-ethics","category-technology"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nNavigating Political Polarization - Academy of Management Today<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/navigating-political-polarization\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Daniel Butcher\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/navigating-political-polarization\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/navigating-political-polarization\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Daniel Butcher\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/d1297a59039d9ca7bac9d9f0952e508c\"},\"headline\":\"Navigating Political Polarization\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-04-02T18:24:05+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-12-23T12:30:44+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/navigating-political-polarization\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":552,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/navigating-political-polarization\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/07\\\/elephant-and-donkey-drawings.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"COMMUNICATING\",\"DIVERSITY\",\"ETHICS\",\"TECHNOLOGY\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/navigating-political-polarization\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/navigating-political-polarization\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/navigating-political-polarization\\\/\",\"name\":\"Navigating Political Polarization - 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