<
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/nov/26/world-divided-black-lives-matter-climate-feminism>
"Today’s widely accepted narrative is that we live in historically divided
times. Voters are routinely described as “polarised”, while analysts compete to
identify the essential schism of the age, whether this is metropolitan versus
traditionalist, people versus democracy or anywheres versus somewheres.
For a third year running, however, the YouGov-Cambridge Globalism Project
supports a different interpretation: that extreme views are given greater
visibility by social media, which in turn creates an especially dynamic climate
of opinion – in that, for example, it can change quickly – but one whose
underlying forces are defined more by cohesion than division. Released annually
by the Guardian, the Globalism Project is an international survey and the
largest of its kind on the public relationship with globalisation, produced by
YouGov in partnership with academics at Cambridge University. Its findings have
consistently challenged popular stereotypes of public opinion in this so-called
polarised age.
It turns out, for instance, that there is no deep divide between the mindsets
of “open versus closed” societies. In fact, few voters support radically open
or closed societies, while most tend to favour varying degrees of continued
integration with the wider world. Academic theorists of “authoritarian
populism” may perceive a new, mass disdain for liberal pluralism, but we found
little evidence of this in public sentiment. Instead, majorities around the
world maintain a determined belief in the superiority of democracy, with little
partisan difference on the issue.
Nor has modern society been overwhelmed by demographic schisms. When we
compared those who feel generally more permissive or restrictive towards net
migration, for example, we found some discernible patterns
on average –
between younger and older, metropolitan and provincial, graduates and
school-leavers – but hardly to the extent of rival demographic blocs, or
splintering, parallel societies."
Via Robert Sanscartier.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
