Fighting Polarization with (Parental) Internalization

Abstract

Growing polarization has been a rising concern in recent years all around the world. How can governments effectively fight it? In a dynamic model of inter-generational cultural transmission we show that polarization could be driven by the attempt of parents to instill extreme values in their children in anticipation of the pressure to conform that will be imposed on the children by their peers. However, this extremist tendency is mitigated if parents put a sufficiently large weight on their children's disutility from peer pressure and try to reduce it - rather than counterbalance it - by instilling in the children conformist rather than extreme values. Increasing awareness of parents to this peer pressure could therefore be a governmental tool for fighting polarization.