Computational Social Science of Social Cohesion and Polarization

This is an open access book. This edited volume explores the decay of social cohesion in democratic societies through the lens of Computational Social Science (CSS). Acknowledging its critical role in democratic stability, the UN and other organizations prioritize the strengthening of social cohesion. Despite these efforts, recent years have witnessed a decline in generalized trust, political polarization, and a loss of faith in democratic authorities. The book showcases that CSS, with its diverse tools and methodologies, is well-suited to address these challenges. Divided into two parts, the first section features contributions from senior scholars providing an introduction to social cohesion and polarization. It emphasizes the interconnected nature of these concepts and how CSS can push the discipline forward. Social cohesion is seen as a delicate balance between close-knit connections and positive societal connectivity, but also consensus on core values, norms and beliefs. This mirrors the study of political polarization, which traditionally focussed on attitudinal differences, and is nowadays much more about identity segregation and inter-party affection and connectivity. The book serves as a bridge between these topics, encouraging interdisciplinary exploration.

The second part showcases contributions from both senior and junior researchers applying CSS methods to study social cohesion and political polarization. Various approaches–text-as-data analyses of parliamentary speeches and newspaper records, network science studies of opinion systems and co-sponsorship dynamics, and agent-based modeling exploring attitudes and identity-based influence–highlight the breadth of CSS tools. Together, they establish a foundation for CSS in understanding social cohesion and polarization, encouraging collaboration between traditional researchers in cohesion and polarization, and computational social scientists.