De votantes a hooligans

Voters today seem to act more like hooligans than thoughtful citizens. Where does so much passion and desire to be right at all costs come from? As Mariano Torcal shows with precision and a wealth of empirical analysis, the most worrying polarization is the affective one: it is the disgust caused by those who do not think like us, the hate, love and phobias generated around the partisan mega-identities that form part of our personal heritage. In any case, should this concern us? It is not that there is an imminent danger of democratic collapse, although it does have important consequences for the political system: it reduces trust in institutions and the value of democracy. All of this leads us to more fragmented, less cohesive societies. This book constitutes the most exhaustive analysis of affective polarization in Spain, an integral vision that will serve as a reference so that our debates on the subject are richer and better informed.