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Rather than treating polarisation as mere attitudinal divergence, we frame it as the symbolic organization of political antagonism. We identify three interrelated cultural dimensions and one social dimension. These are (1)\n                    <jats:italic>ideological divergence<\/jats:italic>\n                    as bifurcating responses to contested issues, conceptualized as morally and emotionally charged signifiers; (2) the\n                    <jats:italic>ideological consistency<\/jats:italic>\n                    of these divergent issues, enabling chains of signification held together by what we call \u2018linking signifiers\u2019 that mark group identity; (3) the\n                    <jats:italic>mutual constitution<\/jats:italic>\n                    of opposing semiotic chains and identities, which describes how antagonistic groups performatively mobilise opposing discourses to co\u2010constitutively define themselves in relation to one another; and (4)\n                    <jats:italic>social polarisation<\/jats:italic>\n                    , which is based in for example, inequalities, segregations, or violent conflicts. We then present a pathway model which expresses how cultural and social polarisation drive or diminish one another over time. This model thereby offers a sociological theory of polarisation\n                    <jats:italic>and<\/jats:italic>\n                    depolarisation as interlinked processes rather than as separate phenomena requiring separate theories. This paper also maps out the implications of our model for empirical polarisation and depolarisation research.\n                  <\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1111\/1468-4446.70180","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,11]],"date-time":"2026-10-11T16:44:26Z","timestamp":1791737066000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1002\/crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["The Symbolic Organisation of Political Antagonism: An Integrative Model of Cultural and Social Polarisation"],"prefix":"10.1111","author":[{"given":"Werner","family":"Binder","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Masaryk University  Brno Czechia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6266-4967","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Matthias","family":"Revers","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"University of Leeds  Leeds UK"},{"name":"University of Hamburg  Hamburg Germany"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5378-9293","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Marcus","family":"Morgan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"University of Bristol  Bristol UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6875-9000","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Mar\u00eda","family":"Luengo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Universidad Carlos III de Madrid  Getafe Spain"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"311","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,11]]},"reference":[{"key":"e_1_2_8_2_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/106591290605900201"},{"key":"e_1_2_8_3_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1086\/697253"},{"key":"e_1_2_8_4_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1080\/0141987042000280003"},{"key":"e_1_2_8_5_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.2307\/223351"},{"key":"e_1_2_8_6_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1017\/CBO9780511598258.009"},{"key":"e_1_2_8_7_1","first-page":"97","volume-title":"Real Civil Societies: Dilemmas of Institutionalization","author":"Alexander J. 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