Divisions (real and imagined) and political polarization

In a context of political, socioeconomic conditions and cultural variables, Latin America is going through a profound (and long-term) restructuring of politics. Centrifugal forces prevail in the spaces that previously united, party fragmentation and competition spaces, proliferation of personalist parties, emergence of adversarial leaders and weakening of control institutions, are some of the symptoms of a restructuring that brings with it severe risks of hybridization. . politics, if not setbacks towards authoritarianism. Changes at the level of the State as a central actor of consensus, order and social integration, on the one hand, and changes at the level of civil societies, crossed by difficulties of incorporation into channels of political representation, on the other, lead to the generation of new physiognomies of the political orders of the region. This Panel proposes to problematize polarization phenomena in relation to systems of political contrasts and divisions, analyzing the social mechanisms as well as the factors associated with the genesis and structuring of political alignments, which give rise to dynamics of political confrontation. We propose to analyze the conditions that have favored the formation of systems of contrasts and opposition in relation to economic, social, cultural and geographical factors that have influenced polarization.
Without claiming exhaustiveness between the various bases of contrast (sources of tensions and oppositions) and dynamics that generate political alignments and polarization, one can consider: Generational conflicts in terms of political priorities, oppositions on social issues, such as abortion and LGBTQ+ rights , or and the rights of non-human animals, oppositions based on socioeconomic inequalities and dynamics of access to employment, education and basic services, divisions in contexts of migration and multiculturalism that contribute to polarization, divisions around access to technology and information, creating disparities in political participation. To these factors must be added the lack of trust in traditional media and the consequent relativization of empirical evidence and the truth.