On February 10th, affiliated group member Dr. Alejandro Ciordia will give an invited talk in the seminar series of the Social Network Analysis in Scotland Group, with the title "Personal Networks and Political Difference in Polarized Times: Evidence from Catalonia", presenting his work in the INCLUSIVITY project, from when the worked at the COALESCE Lab. The presentation can be followed online, and is scheduled between 16.00 and 17.00 UK time.
Abstract: How do ordinary citizens manage political difference in everyday relationships when polarization is high and politically contentious issues permeate daily life? In this talk, I draw on a rich mixed-method personal network data collection conducted in Catalonia (Spain) to examine how informal political conversations, disagreement, and social relationships interact within citizens’ interpersonal environments.
The presentation synthesizes insights from several connected co-authored papers based on the same empirical effort coordinated with Miranda J. Lubbers (UAB). It draws on 76 mixed-method personal network interviews containing detailed relationship-level information on political talk, perceived opinion distance, tie strength, and network positioning, as well as a subsequent representative online survey with personal network modules and dedicated measures of perceived social norms for managing political differences in everyday life. I first provide a brief overview of the research design and the study’s broader focus on inclusivity norms and the micro-social dynamics of polarization. I then highlight three complementary findings.
First, partner selection in political discussion is strongly shaped by political similarity, but this selectivity is not uniform across topics. Moreover, issue polarization conditions which apolitical dyadic factors (such as socialization frequency, tie strength, structural embeddedness, or sociodemographic similarity) facilitate or inhibit regular political discussion. Second, political disagreements can lead to relationship decay, and high levels of political involvement carry an additional relational toll: activists are significantly more likely than non-activists to experience politically motivated relationship decay (even after accounting for a wide range of individual and dyadic characteristics), although paradoxically these fallouts appear less consequential and damaging for activists. Third, ongoing work uses the representative survey to examine the motivations and perceived norms that help “bridges remain standing” under severe polarization, clarifying when citizens sustain dialogue across political divides despite its potential social costs.
Overall, the talk shows how a personal network approach can strengthen polarization research by locating the management and consequences of political difference where they most often unfold: everyday close and weak ties, topic-specific conversations, and the relational constraints and opportunities of personal environments.
Alejandro Ciordia is a postdoctoral researcher at the Maastricht Sustainability Institute, Maastricht University. He earned his PhD in Sociology and Social Research from the University of Trento in 2020, with a dissertation on inter-organizational collaboration in the Basque environmental field in the aftermath of violent conflict. He has previously worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the Autonomous University of Barcelona and at the Scuola Normale Superiore in Florence. His main research interests concern topics related to organized civil society, political participation, social movements, protests, and the socioecological transition. To examine these topics, he draws on relational theories and employs mixed-method research designs, with a particular emphasis on social network analysis. His work has been published in journals such as American Behavioral Scientist, Politics & Governance, Sociological Methodology, Voluntas, and Mobilization, among others.
Meeting ID: 311 316 419 082 3
Passcode: My6p4Qr3
