{"id":7577,"date":"2026-02-18T14:37:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-18T14:37:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aomtodayprod.wpenginepowered.com\/?p=7577"},"modified":"2026-03-20T12:28:19","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T12:28:19","slug":"were-not-as-divided-as-we-think-rethinking-ideology-at-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/were-not-as-divided-as-we-think-rethinking-ideology-at-work\/","title":{"rendered":"We\u2019re Not as Divided as We Think: Rethinking Ideology at Work"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Jason Collins<\/a><\/p>\n

The real ideological divide fomenting increased partisanship may not be what policies people believe in, but rather how those beliefs are labeled according to a political affiliation.<\/p>\n

\u201cParty affiliations are actually driving a lot of this perception that we are so fragmented when our ideologies are not actually that different,\u201d said Academy of Management Scholar Sekou Bermiss<\/a> of the University of North Carolina\u2019s Kenan-Flagler Business School.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople\u2019s ideology is pretty close to the same as it was 20 years ago, 30 years ago, 40 years ago,\u201d Bermiss said after listening to the speakers at an Academy of Management symposium at the organization\u2019s annual conference. \u201cThe main thing that I took away from it that I\u2019ve carried with me is that what I believe to what the average person believes is not that far apart.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bermiss\u2019s theory suggests that we aren\u2019t as divided as media portrayals make us think we are and illustrates that oftentimes people aren\u2019t disagreeing over what is right and wrong; instead, they\u2019re reacting to perceived differences in group memberships or affiliations with a tribal mentality.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s political affiliations and political parties that have gone in opposite directions,\u201d Bermiss said. \u201cSo if you just look at what people believe, and you don’t attach any affiliation or any party to it, people are pretty close in terms of what policies they like and which they dislike.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s way more than enough overlap between most people for them to come to some sort of agreement,\u201d he said. \u201cBut if you start talking about political positions that their respective parties hold, that is where there\u2019s almost no overlap.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Jason Collins The real ideological divide fomenting increased partisanship may not be what policies people believe in, but rather how those beliefs are labeled according to a political affiliation. \u201cParty affiliations are actually driving a lot of this perception that we are so fragmented when our ideologies are not actually that different,\u201d said Academy […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":7394,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,71,60,78],"tags":[],"sp_smart_badges":[],"ppma_author":[841],"class_list":["post-7577","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-behavior","category-communicating","category-diversity","category-policy"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nWe\u2019re Not as Divided as We Think: Rethinking Ideology at Work - Academy of Management Today<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The real ideological divide fomenting increased partisanship may not be what policies people believe in, but rather how those beliefs are labeled according to a political affiliation.\" \/>\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\/were-not-as-divided-as-we-think-rethinking-ideology-at-work\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jason Collins\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/were-not-as-divided-as-we-think-rethinking-ideology-at-work\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/were-not-as-divided-as-we-think-rethinking-ideology-at-work\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Jason Collins\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/9552e9718df5b29713d7c49aea25a029\"},\"headline\":\"We\u2019re Not as Divided as We Think: Rethinking Ideology at Work\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-02-18T14:37:10+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-03-20T12:28:19+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/were-not-as-divided-as-we-think-rethinking-ideology-at-work\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":291,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/were-not-as-divided-as-we-think-rethinking-ideology-at-work\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/08\\\/blue-state-person-vs-red-state-person_political-groups_cropped-scaled.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"BEHAVIOR\",\"COMMUNICATING\",\"DIVERSITY\",\"POLICY\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/were-not-as-divided-as-we-think-rethinking-ideology-at-work\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/were-not-as-divided-as-we-think-rethinking-ideology-at-work\\\/\",\"name\":\"We\u2019re Not as Divided as We Think: Rethinking Ideology at Work - 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