NotLikeUs

Consortium of Political Science researchers from seven different Belgian universities UCLouvain, KULeuven, UAntwerp, UGent, ULB, UNamur, VUB.

Cheurcheurs UCLouvain : Pierre Baudewyns, Virginie Van Ingelgom, Benoît Rihoux, Kenza Amara-Hammou, Henry Maes

Financement : EOS (Excellence of Science)

This research project examines an hitherto under-examined driver of two of the main problems representative democracies are wrestling with: horizontal affective polarization among citizens and vertical political dissatisfaction with politicians.

The ‘new’ driver is the perception of differentness and similarity (PoDS), referring to citizens' perception that other- or like-minded citizens and politicians are not only politically different or similar—they have other or similar political preferences—but that they are also different human beings with different lifestyles that encompass different social, cultural, and economic features. We expect that ingroup-outgroup mechanisms make that such broad perceptions of differences lead to deepening intergroup animus. Although the theoretical logic of perceptual differences deepening dislike of others is not new, it has never been applied empirically to the study of horizontal polarization and vertical dissatisfaction.

The NotLikeUs project is divided into 5 different Working Packages (WPs), each with their own empirical focus and methodological strategies – ranging from (panel) surveys to experiments, content analyses, focus groups, and interviews. These different WPs complement each other as illustrated by the image.

The geographical focus of the project is Belgium, where different data collections are taking place outside but also before, during and after its Federal, Regional, and European elections that are held simultaneously in June 2024.