Abstract

It is sometimes said that the societal debate on a policy issue has become polarized. Most social scientists have an implicit understanding of this expression. But social science lacks formal and objective techniques to measure the evolution of political or societal debates on a policy issue. How does one know for sure whether a debate is polarizing or whether it evolves in the direction of consensus? To what degree has a debate polarized? What is the distance between the protagonists? This article attempts to fill this gap in the methodological knowledge of the social sciences by presenting a method for the formal measurement of dynamics of policy conflict by analysing discourse. The method is based on a combination of content analysis and social network analysis. In this article, it will be exemplified by the analysis of the historical debate on abortion in the Belgian Chamber of Representatives (1972-1990).

How to Cite:

Muller, A., (2014) “Het meten van beleidscontroverse en polarisatie met "discoursnetwerkanalyse: de case van het abortusdebat in de Belgische Kamer" (1972-1990)”, Sociologos 35(3), 159–184. doi: https://doi.org/10.21825/sociologos.86852