At least since the Corona crisis, there has been talk everywhere of the (increasing) polarization of society. The media are often held responsible for this. But what exactly does polarization actually mean and what role do the media actually play in this? In our new paper, Christiane Eilders, Ole Kelm, and I discuss the role of mass media and social media for political polarization in Germany. For this purpose, we propose a theoretical-conceptual systematization that combines dimensioning along the micro-, meso-, and macro-levels with the differentiation of attitude and affective polarization. The paper is now published in Forschungsjournal Soziale Bewegungen.
