Rapidly increasing partisanship and polarisation, especially online, poses an urgent threat to societal cohesion in Australia and other established western democracies; polarisation is also a critical concern when actively promoted by bad-faith actors to undermine citizens’ trust in democratic institutions. By introducing an analytical framework that distinguishes several key domains of polarisation (news, audience, discourse), this Australian Laureate Fellowship conducts the first-ever assessment of the extent and dynamics of polarisation in the contemporary online and social media environments of a number of democratic nations, including Australia. The evidence is expected to enable an urgently needed, robust defence of society and democracy against the challenges of polarisation.
Specifically, the project addresses the following challenges:
Polarisation is poorly defined in media and communication research. We need to define, conceptualise, and measure polarisation in order to enable more rigorous empirical research and more targeted actions against the problematic consequences of polarisation.
Polarisation has a negative connotation. We need to be more specific on when exactly polarisation is a problematic process, and define elements and indicators of destructive polarisation.
There is a tendency to conceptualise polarisation as left vs. right. We need to explore measures of polarisation beyond the dominant left-right continuum. We need to develop new frameworks to assess levels of polarisation across different issues, identities, ideologies, and other dimensions.
Specifically, our work at this point addresses three major domains:
DMRC research program
This project contributes to the research within the following DMRC research programs:
DMRC research groups
This project contributes to the research within the following DMRC research groups:
Project team
- Prof Axel Bruns
- Laura Vodden
- Katharina Esau
- Samantha Vilkins
- Tariq Choucair
- Sebastian Svegaard
- Carly Lubicz-Zaorski
- Laura Lefevre
- Kate O’Connor Farfan
- Vish Padinjar
- Klaus Groebner
- Kate FitzGerald
Recent publications
- Esau, K.; Choucair, T.; Vilkins, S.; Svegaard, S. F. K.; Bruns, A.; O’Connor-Farfan, K., & Lubicz-Zaorski, C. (2024) Destructive polarization in digital communication contexts: a critical review and conceptual framework. Information, Communication & Society.
- Esau, K. (2025) The Quality of Connections: Deliberative Reciprocity and Inclusive Listening as Antidote to Destructive Polarization Online. Social Media + Society.
- Bruns, A.; Choucair, T.; Esau, K.; Svegaard, S. F. K., & Vilkins, S. (2024) Polarization in online spaces: Distinguishing forms of polarized politics. In The Routledge Handbook of Political Campaigning.
- Vilkins, S.; Bruns, A.; Svegaard, S.; Choucair, T., & Esau, K. (2025) Polarization. In The Handbook of Social and Political Conflict.
- Esau, K., Bruns, A., & Choucair, T. (2025) 5 signs of toxic division – and how to beat them. 360Info.
- Bruns, A.; Kasianenko, K.; Padinjaredath Suresh, V.; Dehghan, E., and Vodden, L. (2025) Untangling the Furball: A Practice Mapping Approach to the Analysis of Multimodal Interactions in Social Networks. Social Media + Society.
- Esau, K.; Meyer, H.; Farjam, M.; Bruns, A.; Rauxloh, H., & Brüggemann, M. (2025) Polarised media framing of climate movements: A comparative mixed-methods analysis of Australia and Germany. Media International Australia.
- Esau, K.; Bruns, A.; Riedlinger, M.; Vilkins, S.; Vodden, L., & Myint, T. (2025) Division, not reconciliation: Mapping news media polarisation during Australia’s Indigenous Voice to Parliament referendum. Media International Australia.
Project funding
ARC Laureate Fellowship (2022-26)
