Courageous Dialogues: Moving Beyond Polarization

Vector graphic of two people with puzzle pieces

Overcoming Divisions

Courageous Dialogues: Moving Beyond Polarization is a project that aims to build skills, capacity and willingness to understand how we as a society have come to be so divided on so many issues of social concern and what we can do to overcome these divisions.

It is important to find ways of helping us all move beyond polarization so we can bring our best selves forward to collaborate around solving the big social and environmental problems we face.

This is a collaborative project led by the Mir Centre for Peace at Selkirk College and Selkirk Innovates along with Capilano University and Vancouver Community College.

Research

Read our resource guide, literature review and annotated bibliographies.

Courageous Dialogues in the News

"Selkirk Researcher Says Listening a Key to Overcoming Polarization in Climate Debate," Nelson Star

What is Polarization?

Polarization is a complex social dynamic that occurs when an issue that involves many different people, concerns and opinions is reduced to two opposing sides— “for or against” or “us vs them.” It goes well beyond ordinary disagreement. In fact, it can lead us to avoid debate or consideration of others’ ideas completely. When we believe that we alone hold the truth, we may see differences of opinion, values and beliefs as threatening and intolerable. These dynamics disrupt effective patterns of home and workplace communication. Instead of working with difference and making conflict constructive, we allow polarization to create painful divisions that are hard to overcome.