A spectre is haunting Europe — the spectre of polarization. All the powers of old Europe have entered into a holy hunt against this spectre. Where is the opposition party that has not been decried as polarizing by its governing opponents? Where the opposition party that has not hurled back the branding charge of polarization — against both its more progressive counterparts in opposition and its reactionary adversaries? And yet we must note: empirical social research rarely finds the polarization presumed to be everywhere. This tension is the starting point of the talk: What if polarization is seen everywhere because it structures the very way in which politics observes itself? And what follows from this insight for the political present? Polarization, the core thesis holds, is an expression of how modern politics processes its own contradictions. The politically explosive question is therefore not so much whether society is polarized, but above all along which axes.
The talk will be held in English.
If you would like to participate, please register via the following email address: grk2686@uni-bremen.de