Segregation of living environments and political polarization
Kuinka alueellinen eriarvoistuminen ja asuinalueiden eriytyminen edistävät yhteiskunnan kahtiajakautumista?
Keywords:
polarization, attitude, immigration, urbanization, residential segregationAbstract
Recently, concerns regarding political segregation and societal polarization have arisen in Finland also. Still, both theoretically and empirically, we lack studies on how these developments have progressed in Finland and how they are potentially challenging the country’s contemporary political culture and changing the existing electoral cleavages. This article aims to, first, clarify what is meant by opinion polarization. Second, the main argument presented here is that political polarization must not be understood solely as growing ideological distance between parties and their voters. Instead, the article examines the potential segregation of living environments has both as a cause for political polarization, as well as a result that further amplifies inequalities between different social contexts. Lastly, the article proposes some ways to counter these developments.
