Extreme political polarization isn't a modern glitch; it's the original "operating system" of the United States.
Collective narcissism—a group identity defined by a shared enemy—has been the foundational driver of American politics since the 1700s. This suggests that current social media vitriol isn't a new phenomenon, but the primary way the American political system has always functioned.
Collective Narcissism in American Politics: A Historical Reflection
SSRN · 6456078
<p>This paper argues that collective narcissism — defined here as the organization of group identity around a shared villain, sustained through the need for external validation and the destruction of perceived opponents — is not a contemporary pathology in American politics but its foundational operating system. Tracing the arc from the Revolutionary period through Reconstruction, the industrial era, and into the present, the paper demonstrates that the same psychological architecture has been c