In this study, we examine methodologies across sociology, psychology, and media studies to explore polarization, highlighting intersections and divergences. Sociological approaches frame polarization as an emotional phenomenon shaped by social norms, employing both qualitative methods like ethnography and discourse analysis, as well as quantitative surveys. Cultural sociology extends the qualitative approach, situating polarization within symbolic struggles and analyzing social dramas and group antagonisms. Media studies share many similarities with sociology in both the qualitative and quantitative dimensions, frequently employing multimodal analyses and large-scale data collection to uncover how algorithms and visual media amplify affective divides. Psychology emphasizes cognitive and relational mechanisms, often utilizing quantitative surveys and experiments to explore the effects of epistemic motives and group centrism. By comparing these methodologies, we identify shared concerns and distinct approaches, drawing attention to the constitution of polarization as a particular discursive formation indissociable from disciplinary dimensions.

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• Sociology - Social Sciences
• Media and Communications - Social Sciences
• Other Social Sciences - Social Sciences