Us versus them. A Case Study of Student¿s Affective Polarization at Tokai University, Japan

Seminar paper from the year 2023 in the subject South Asian Studies, South-Eastern Asian Studies, grade: 1,7, Humboldt-University of Berlin, language: English, abstract: Drawing on a case-study approach, the leading question of this research plan is what kind of affective polarization can be identified among students at Tokai University in Japan. ¿Till Trump Do Us Part: The Relationship Deal Breaker We Never Saw Coming¿ is a catchy title of an article, in which the author illustrates cases of couples who are ending their relationships due to their different political leanings. As the atmosphere of political animosity between the two main rivaling camps in America- Democrats and Republicans is only being fueled every day, people slowly start to look for other co-partisans to form with them their private lives. On the other hand, those already in a relationship with out-partisans declare that they: ¿(...)often feel as though their partners don¿t understand their own specific fears and anxieties ¿ or that they simply are so far apart politically that the relationship can¿t continue.¿ This phenomenon, known broadly in social sciences as affective polarization, has been emerging as a consequence of political polarization and has been on the rise in recent years in America. I divide affective polarization into two types: affective polarization manifested in attitudes toward political representatives (parties, political leaders etc.) or also called vertical and manifested in interpersonal attitudes or called ¿horizontal¿. The research foresees two studies conducted in a time interval- one in late 2023 and one in 2025, before the elections in Japan.