A new research survey released by the Pew Research Center suggests that the U.S., France, and Korea are the most divided nations, especially over the topic of religion.
The survey captured the opinions of almost 19,000 adults in 17 different nations and examined topics such as the societal conflict between religions, political parties, races, and ethnicities, as well as rural and urban communities.
Image credit: mohamed Hassan from Pixabay
Pew also added that most places surveyed have become more open to diversity since the last time the question was asked in 2017.
The Pew Research Center conducted telephone surveys of nationally representative samples of adults from March 12 to May 26, 2021, in 16 advanced economies: Canada, Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom, Australia, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan.
The U.S. sample of almost 2,600 adults was gathered during the first week of February in 2021. Selection into the survey was weighted to be representative of the U.S. adult population by gender, race, ethnicity, partisan affiliation, and education.
Most of the nations surveyed by Pew responded favorably when asked about diversity. Six in ten adults in Japan and Greece, and eight in ten adults in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Singapore, Taiwan, United Kingdom, and the United States held the view that having individuals from many backgrounds, such as different ethnic groups, religions and races made their country a “better place to live.”
Furthermore, most places found that, “When it comes to racial and ethnic discrimination, a median of 67% say it is a serious or very serious problem,” though the researchers noted the findings vary widely.
In North America, “Americans and Canadians generally agree that racial and ethnic discrimination is at least a serious problem in their respective countries. Around three-quarters of Americans think so, as do around two-thirds of Canadians.”
The researchers also found that, “alongside this growing openness to diversity, however, is a recognition that societies may not be living up to these ideals: in fact, most people say racial or ethnic discrimination is a problem in their society.”
The U.S. remains the country with the highest share of respondents endorsing that there is racial or ethnic conflict. The U.S. consistently ranked at the top.
Conflict was a central theme and finding of the survey.
If there was some good news in the survey, it is that religious conflict lags behind other forms of conflict in most of the 17 nations. Researchers further noted that in “most societies racial and ethnic divisions are not seen as the most salient cleavage.”
Globally, 48% reported racial conflict, 36% reported religious conflict, and 23% see rural-urban conflict source of tension.
Political conflict, however, topped the list as a near-universal source of tension. Furthermore, in the U.S., nine in ten respondents viewed political conflict as “serious” or “very serious.” The U.S. was the most politically polarized nation. South Korea matched the U.S. at 90% seeing serious political polarization, with Taiwan third at 69%.
Singapore and Japan were the lowest in political conflict with 33% and 39% respectively. France and Italy were in the mid-60 percentiles followed by Spain and Germany in the mid-50s.
“In some places, this acrimony has risen to the level that people think their fellow citizens no longer disagree simply over policies,” Pew Research noted, “but also over basic facts. In France, the US, Italy, Spain, and Belgium, half or more think that most people in their country disagree on basic facts more than they agree. Across most societies surveyed, those who see conflict among partisans are more likely to say people disagree on the basic facts than those who do not see such conflicts.”
They also noted that views on politics were related to views about the governing party (or parties) in nearly every nation.
The researchers also examined whether the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated political divisions. They found that 61% of respondents across nations said they are more divided after the pandemic. The findings show a worsening in the division from a previous poll on the pandemic and political divisions conducted by Pew in summer 2020.
The researchers found some co-varying factors related to their findings.
First, they found that generally, “Wealthier people express more positive views of diversity than those with lower incomes in some of the places surveyed.”
The income gaps appear in Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Italy, Sweden, Singapore, the U.K., and the U.S.
They also found that respondents on the ideological left were more likely to endorse that diversity improves societies and identify discrimination as a problem. Younger respondents too were more likely to report positive views of diversity but also reported more conflicts and discrimination overall than older respondents.
In some cases, those more optimistic about their economies were model likely to see fewer conflicts.
In terms of religious conflict, South Korea reported the greatest concern. Sixty-one percent of South Korean respondents had the highest perception of religious conflict, followed by respondents in France at 56%, and the U.S. was at 49%. Germany and Belgium reported 46% each. Only 12% of Taiwanese reported concerns of conflict over religious diversity.
While most do not view religious conflict as a concern, almost a quarter of respondents in France reported religious conflicts as “very serious.” Almost one in eight U.S. respondents and one in ten respondents in Canada and U.K. said that religious conflicts were “very serious.”
Interestingly, religious diversity did not seem to be an indicator of conflict, nor did whether respondents were religious or nonreligious.
Christian-dominated nations like the U.S., Greece, and Italy were no more likely religious conflict than nations like Japan with 60% unaffiliated or Taiwan with almost 44% reporting the practice of a folk religion.
PEW classifies African traditional religions, Chinese folk religions, Native American religions, and Australian aboriginal religions in the Folk religions category. Wicca and other Neopagan faiths are classified under “other religions.”
Overall, the findings suggest some positive advances in acceptance of diversity, while respondents still recognize formidable challenges ahead.
“Alongside growing openness to diversity, there is a recognition that societies may not be living up to their ideals,” stated Pew researchers. “[But] overall, fewer people see strong religious conflict.”
The Wild Hunt is not responsible for links to external content.
To join a conversation on this post:
Visit our The Wild Hunt subreddit! Point your favorite browser to https://www.reddit.com/r/The_Wild_Hunt_News/, then click “JOIN”. Make sure to click the bell, too, to be notified of new articles posted to our subreddit.