How does political polarization occur under repressive conditions? Drawing on psychological theories of social identity, the author posits that the nature of repression drives polarization. Repression alters group identities, changing the perceived distance between groups and ultimately shaping the level of affective and preference polarization between them through differentiation processes. The author tests the proposed causal relationship using mixed-method data and analysis.The results of a laboratory experiment reveal that exposure to a targeted repression prime results in greater in-group identification and polarization between groups, whereas exposure to a widespread prime results in decreased levels of these same measurements. The effect of the primes appears to be mediated through group identification. Case-study evidence of polarization between political opposition groups that were differently repressed in Egypt and Tunisia reinforces these results. The findings have implications for understanding how polarization, as conditioned by repression, may alter the likelihood of the cooperative behavior among opposition actors necessary for the success of democratic politics.

中文翻译：

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压抑与两极分化的心理学

在压制性条件下，政治两极分化如何发生？借鉴社会认同的心理学理论，作者假设压制的性质推动了两极分化。压制改变了群体身份，改变了群体之间的感知距离，并最终通过分化过程塑造了他们之间的情感和偏好极化水平。作者使用混合方法数据和分析测试了所提出的因果关系。实验室实验的结果表明，暴露于有针对性的抑制素会导致更大的群体内认同和群体之间的极化，而暴露于广泛的素会导致减少这些相同的测量水平。素数的影响似乎是通过群体认同来调节的。在埃及和突尼斯受到不同压制的政治反对派团体之间两极分化的案例研究证据强化了这些结果。这些发现对于理解两极分化如何以镇压为条件，可能会改变民主政治成功所必需的反对派行为者之间合作行为的可能性具有重要意义。