Polarization and tipping points
Abstract
Our study was motivated by a highly disturbing puzzle. Confronted with a deadly global pandemic that threatened not only massive loss of life but also the collapse of our medical system and economy, why were we unable to put partisan divisions aside and unite in a common cause, similar to the national mobilization in the Great Depression and the Second World War? We used a computational model to search for an answer in the phase transitions of political polarization. The model reveals asymmetric hysteresis trajectories with tipping points that are hard to predict and that make polarization extremely difficult to reverse once the level exceeds a critical value.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Pub Defense Publication
- Publication Date
- Dec 06, 2021
- Source ID
- 10.1073/pnas.2102144118
Entities
People
- Boleslaw Szymanski
- Daniel R. Tabin
- Jianxi Gao
- Manqing Ma
- Michael Macy
Organizations
- Army Research Office
- Cornell University
- National Science Foundation
- Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute