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A Cultural-Sociological Perspective on Polarization

Sociologický ústav Slovenskej akadémie vied v. v. i. Vás srdečne pozýva na

ÚSTAVNÝ SEMINÁR SOCIOLOGICKÉHO ÚSTAVU SAV

3. 12. 2025 o 13.30

S prednáškou "A Cultural-Sociological Perspective on Polarization"  

Vystúpi Werner Binder

Sociology Department, Faculty of Social Sciences, Masaryk University

Prednáška bude v anglickom jazyku v miestnosti č. 94 na Klemensovej 19 v Bratislave

Abstract: This paper develops a novel understanding of polarization as a social and cultural structure as well as a performative and discursive struggle for meaning. Drawing on Alexander’s civil sphere theory, Laclau and Mouffe’s discourse theory, and Lamont’s symbolic boundaries approach, we reconceptualize ideological and affective polarization through the lens of cultural sociology. Our model identifies three interrelated symbolic dimensions: (1) the divergence on contested issues conceptualized as signifiers; (2) their consistency, enabling chains of signification held together by “empty signifiers” that mark group identity; and (3) the mutual constitution of opposing semiotic chains and identities. Drawing on the principle of cultural autonomy and the distinction between symbolic and social boundaries, we conceptualize (4) social polarization as a relatively independent fourth dimension. The resulting four-dimensional model of polarization allows us to map interactions between cultural and social polarization, which may not only be used to track and explain processes of polarization but also to devise and test depolarizing countermeasures.

Bio: Werner Binder studied sociology, philosophy and German literature in Mannheim, Potsdam and Berlin before earning his PhD at the University of Konstanz. He is currently an assistant professor at the Department of Sociology at Masaryk University, Brno (Czech Republic), faculty fellow at the Yale Center for Cultural Sociology, book review editor of the European Journal of Cultural and Political Sociology, associate editor at the American Journal of Cultural Sociology and co-working group leader of the COST Action “Redressing Radical Polarisation” (CA22165). His research interests are sociological theory, cultural sociology, textual and visual methods of interpretation, public discourses and the sociology of artificial intelligence. Among his recent publications are “Technology as (Dis-)Enchantment. AlphaGo and the Meaning-Making of Artificial Intelligence” (2024, Cultural Sociology) and “Theory of Society and Cultural Sociology. Niklas Luhmann and After” (2025, American Journal of Cultural Sociology).