The Relational Toll of Political Involvement in Polarized Times: Relationship Decay Within Activists’ Personal Networks

Active political participation and engagement in collective action are generally thought to expand activists’ social networks. However, the potential negative relational consequences of political activism have seldom been examined. This article addresses this gap by assessing whether activists are more likely to experience politically motivated interpersonal conflicts with social contacts who hold different political views, and if so, why and with what consequences. We analyze mixed-method data about 806 interpersonal relationships collected through personal network interviews with a diverse sample of 76 activist and non-activist citizens in the highly polarized region of Catalonia (Spain). Results show that activists are much more likely to have damaged or broken social relationships due to political disagreement than other citizens, even after controlling for a wide range of individual and relational characteristics. This higher propensity was found among all kinds of activists, regardless of the area of activism and degree of political involvement, and was explained by three main explanatory factors: greater identity exposure, urge for self-disclosure , and need for ideological alignment . However, these conflictive experiences have milder consequences for activists’ private and political lives than for non-activists. We argue that, under conditions of severe polarization, politically motivated relationship decay evolves from a “relational risk” of activism to a “relational toll,” a negative outcome that is almost certain to occur but entails a moderate and somewhat acceptable cost for individual activists.