I do think it is significantly strange and deeply concerning that parent-child relationships are fracturing over political differences. While disagreements on various topics have always existed within families, current level of polarization and the intensity with which political beliefs are held and expressed seem to be creating an unprecedented strain on these familial bonds.
If this trend continues or intensifies, do you think it will impact broader social structures like intergenerational understanding, or the transmission of values and traditions? Considering the potential for widespread estrangement driven by political polarization, how might this trend fundamentally reshape intergenerational understanding, the very fabric of our society that at one point depended on connection and dialogue across different viewpoints, even within families? Could this lead to a more fragmented and less cohesive society in the long run?
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I do think it is significantly strange and deeply concerning that parent-child relationships are fracturing over political differences to the extent we are seeing. While disagreements on various topics have always existed within families, the current level of polarization and the intensity with which political beliefs are held and expressed seem to be creating an unprecedented strain on these fundamental bonds.
If this trend continues or intensifies, do you think it will impact broader social structures like intergenerational understanding, or the transmission of values and traditions? Considering the potential for widespread estrangement driven by political polarization, how might this trend fundamentally reshape intergenerational understanding, the very fabric of our society that at one point depended on connection and dialogue across different viewpoints, even within families? Could this lead to a more fragmented and less cohesive society in the long run?
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Potential consequences: A better, more enlightened populous. An end to ridiculous worship of ancestry. Deeper, more meaningful bonds towards fellow citizens. A less fragmented, more cohesive society. It’s great, basically 100% upside!
Our society is already neither cohesive nor unbroken. I don’t envision family arguments adding to the problem significantly.
I think you could say that far right extremism will lead to a more fragmented and less cohesive society just in general, yes. That said, I think it’s strange that you’re somehow seeming to blame the left for family estrangement because all my life I’ve known people who’ve been cast out from their right-wing families (generally for their sexualities, but sometimes for other things). I guess now that the left is finally saying ‘Hey, maybe being that sort of conservative extremist is morally bad and worth severing ties over’, now it’s a larger problem?
Political differences? We’re not talking about whether the marginal tax rate should be 32% instead of 34%. It’s a lot deeper than that. It’s nonoverlapping core values at this point.
There’s a lot of maybes here. We don’t know how big of an effect this will have specifically. Even after watching the data for several decades, this will be hard to decouple from things like urbanization and a more technology focused workforce that causes people to move away from their parents more frequently. While you may hear about people becoming estranged from their parents online a lot, it’s not clear how much this happens due to politics alone.
For instance, when someone tells a story about severing contact, do they only list politics as the reason, or do they usually include behavioral or communication problems as well? Most stories I hear tend to focus on how their parents become vitriolic and insensitive about how they talk about politics, refusing to let it go.
I don’t personally know anybody who’s disconnected from family or friends, including disconnecting from their parents or children because of politics.
What I do personally know about is people who have experienced these disconnections because one side could not just shut the fuck up about politics and had to interject it into every get together.
And I’m not talking about somebody wanting to constantly have a heated conversation about the top marginal tax rate or what kinds of reasonable changes could be made to zoning policy to bring down housing prices.
I do know somebody who disconnected from his parents because they were very upset that he had adopted a black child. And they did not use the word black to refer to the child.
I do know somebody who disconnected from her parents because they could not stop ranting about QAnon conspiracies and talking about (((them))) in front of the children.
And I do know somebody who disconnected from his brother because his brother convinced their parents that the vaccines were bad and then his parents got Covid and died.
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But I do agree that this is ultimately very unhealthy for society. The way in which families are disconnecting because some members of society have adopted an extreme far right set of beliefs is not good.
While I get along with my parents, mostly (dad and I fight a lot), I have mostly excised his end of his family, and the more pernicious relatives on mom’s end.
My children, if I ever have any, will not have to worry about their taint or story in their lives, and will be raised with love, compassion, skepticism, healthy regard for honest authority, and civic responsibility. They will not ever have to deal with the terrible values and traditions that those relatives cling to.
I only see this being a good thing; I can’t think of a single position that is acceptable based on the philosophy of the far right, and anybody I’m related to by unfortunate circumstance is most emphatically not my family, and will only ever be treated as potentially hostile strangers barring a complete and total and public renunciation of their old views and ways and admission of being incorrect in their bigotry.
Blood may be thicker than water, but so is shit.
This is a very silly question because we all know what you mean- it’s the children’s fault for choosing not to be around their bigoted and terrible parents. Like another person said, it’s not like the political differences we’re taking about are tax rates., the differences run much deeper than that. I’m sorry, but it’s not the children’s fault if shitty parents push their kids away.
With that said, to actually answer the question, the biggest problem that I can see is that the aging populations will have less young people in their lives that they can depend on to take care of the when they are too old to take care of themselves, so we’re going to have to invest more in social systems to help take care of this population.
Also, what does this even mean?
> intergenerational understanding, the very fabric of our society that at one point depended on connection and dialogue across different viewpoints, even within families?
>What are the potential long term consequences
If you want to study this, you should go to the LGBTQ community. There are thousands of stories of people who were cut out of their parents’ lives after coming out as gay.
These are not “political” differences.
These are differences in values. These are moral differences.
No one is estranging their friends and relations over a difference of opinion on fiscal policy or bureaucratic processes.
They are estranging them over actions and words that go contrary to our understanding of the nature of good and evil.
Better mental health?
This already happened. It always happens. Most people survive.
>I do think it is significantly strange and deeply concerning that parent-child relationships are fracturing over political differences.
I’m not sure why you believe this is strange. Most of Trump’s policies right now are in line with Project 2025, which most of his base did not bother to read, and dismissed concerns over it as “alarmist”. Scholars and academics have raised concerns that it would enable Trump to rule unchecked with no limits on his power. The immunity ruling, which has received universal condemnation from legal experts, certainly did not help to dispel concerns about him being an authoritarian, nor did his dismissal of inspectors general. If conservatives are upset about their families leaving them when the writing’s on the wall, then that’s really not anyone else’s problem other than their own.
Political differences aren’t the only reason for the estrangement. It’s just the next evolution of long-standing problems in parent child relationships. There is an expectation in many conservative households of loyalty at all costs, but that loyalty only goes one way. It’s expected to be given to protect the parents, the church, the elders, the old ways, the before time. But, there is no loyalty to protecting the kids and grandkids harmed by that. A lot of adult children of conservative parents are realizing that their parents will choose a government that actively seeks to oppress and hurt their own children and grandchildren while simultaneously crying about their own oppression by the government that isn’t even based in any tangible and true government action (e.g. DEI initiatives by private companies). Too many people are looking at the cut off as an unfathomable betrayal, but not the betrayal that caused the cut off as anything to be concerned about. So, will there be long term societal consequences? Yes. Choices have consequences. Conservative parents bear a significant amount of that burden and would benefit from self-reflection to see why.
Parent-child relationships have always fractured due to political differences. That’s not a new phenomenon.