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posted by janrinok on Monday January 27 2020, @05:46PM   Printer-friendly

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

Political polarization among Americans has grown rapidly in the last 40 years—more than in Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia or Germany—a phenomenon possibly due to increased racial division, the rise of partisan cable news and changes in the composition of the Democratic and Republican parties.

That's according to new research co-authored by Jesse Shapiro, a professor of political economy at Brown University. The study, conducted alongside Stanford University economists Levi Boxell and Matthew Gentzkow, was released on Monday, Jan. 20, as a National Bureau of Economic Research working paper.

In the study, Shapiro and colleagues present the first ever multi-nation evidence on long-term trends in "affective polarization"—a phenomenon in which citizens feel more negatively toward other political parties than toward their own. They found that in the U.S., affective polarization has increased more dramatically since the late 1970s than in the eight other countries they examined—the U.K., Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, Switzerland, Norway and Sweden.

"A lot of analysis on polarization is focused on the U.S., so we thought it could be interesting to put the U.S. in context and see whether it is part of a global trend or whether it looks more exceptional," Shapiro said. "We found that the trend in the U.S. is indeed exceptional."

Using data from four decades of public opinion surveys conducted in the nine countries, the researchers used a so-called "feeling thermometer" to rate attitudes on a scale from 0 to 100, where 0 reflected no negative feelings toward other parties. They found that in 1978, the average American rated the members of their own political party 27 points higher than members of the other major party. By 2016, Americans were rating their own party 45.9 points higher than the other party, on average. In other words, negative feelings toward members of the other party compared to one's own party increased by an average of 4.8 points per decade.

The researchers found that polarization had also risen in Canada, New Zealand and Switzerland in the last 40 years, but to a lesser extent. In the U.K., Australia, Germany, Norway and Sweden, polarization decreased.

More information: Levi Boxell et al, Cross-Country Trends in Affective Polarization, (2020). DOI: 10.3386/w26669


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  • (Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Friday January 31 2020, @11:51PM (7 children)

    by Azuma Hazuki (5086) on Friday January 31 2020, @11:51PM (#952063) Journal

    I just hope to fuck I can get out of this place before it all comes crashing down. Being poor and female and gay (and closeted, in meatspace...) does not make this an easy proposition, especially not given all the shit I'm dealing with.

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    I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
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  • (Score: 2) by barbara hudson on Saturday February 01 2020, @12:29AM (6 children)

    by barbara hudson (6443) <barbara.Jane.hudson@icloud.com> on Saturday February 01 2020, @12:29AM (#952083) Journal

    Now that Trump will be acquitted and probably win election you're a prime candidate for refugee status in Canada. Persecution for being lgbt is often invoked by refugees.

    With the way the refugee process is already backed up something like 5 years with appeals due to the huge influx of people coming illegally into Canada by just walking across the border at Roxton Pond, it's well known how easy peasey it is.

    Walk across the border.
    Nice cops arrest you, bring you and your baggage to a trailer park office
    Say you're a refugee.
    Do the paperwork.
    Identity check to make sure there's no international arrest warrants
    Get paperwork showing you're eligible for free health care, public assistance
    Brought by bus to temp shelter if you don't have anyone to go to.

    In by 9, out by 5

    https://montreal.ctvnews.ca/mobile/refugee-claimants-forced-to-turn-to-welfare-as-work-permits-stalled-in-federal-bureaucracy-1.4769385 [ctvnews.ca]

    Bring documentation of education and work experience and you'll probably be working within a month - we have a severe worker shortage,

    Or just apply for a work visa. Like I said, huge worker shortage, government is actively holding job fairs in other countries.

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    • (Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Saturday February 01 2020, @12:37AM (5 children)

      by Azuma Hazuki (5086) on Saturday February 01 2020, @12:37AM (#952088) Journal

      Think I should get PTCB certified first? Would having the shiny expensive piece of paper that tells the HR grindbots I know what I know make a work visa easier?

      --
      I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
      • (Score: 2) by barbara hudson on Saturday February 01 2020, @12:58AM (4 children)

        by barbara hudson (6443) <barbara.Jane.hudson@icloud.com> on Saturday February 01 2020, @12:58AM (#952095) Journal

        You can do it on the job here - or maybe not even bother. I know my sister worked for years as a lab tech - but her husband owned the pharmacy. Either way, education is WAY cheaper here. I think someone with refugee status pays the same as a local - sometihing like 5-10% of what an education costs in the USA for a degree.

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        • (Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Saturday February 01 2020, @02:25AM (3 children)

          by Azuma Hazuki (5086) on Saturday February 01 2020, @02:25AM (#952127) Journal

          Oh, it's a corporate cert, not an accredited education program. It's like CompTIA A+ for people who put pills in bottles instead of RAM in DIMM slots.

          --
          I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
          • (Score: 2) by barbara hudson on Saturday February 01 2020, @02:35AM (2 children)

            by barbara hudson (6443) <barbara.Jane.hudson@icloud.com> on Saturday February 01 2020, @02:35AM (#952131) Journal
            Okay. Then you won't need it. I've asked my sister what the route is for such things here - explained that with Trump now likely to be re-elected there's going to be a lot more illegal refugees coming to Canada. The labour shortage up here is crazy - we even have government programs encouraging foreign restaurant workers to immigrate because restaurants can't find the staff. Complete with free second language courses if needed.
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            • (Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Saturday February 01 2020, @03:14AM (1 child)

              by Azuma Hazuki (5086) on Saturday February 01 2020, @03:14AM (#952153) Journal

              Helluva world we live in, huh? :/ I'll have a year of outpatient experience this June; with that and the PTCB cert I'll be attractive enough to come in on a work visa, no?

              --
              I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
              • (Score: 2) by barbara hudson on Saturday February 01 2020, @04:06AM

                by barbara hudson (6443) <barbara.Jane.hudson@icloud.com> on Saturday February 01 2020, @04:06AM (#952174) Journal
                You probably already are. Like I said, we've got shortages - it's on the news pretty much every night as employers complain to the government to do something more
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