Peace education challenges and potentials in polarizing conflicts over democracy: An analysis using the regional case study of Hambach Castle in Neustadt

Are we a divided society?

The tension between diversity, polarization and consensus

Many people perceive from their own everyday experience, from media reports and from more than a few current social analyses that conflicts within German society have not only increased and intensified in recent years, but that we are heading towards or already living in a divided society. Front lines are being drawn on numerous issues, with population groups often irreconcilably and irritably confronting each other, sometimes with open aggression. Descriptions such as "culture war" and "loss of the social center" are booming.

The lecture series of the Department of Cultural and Social Sciences addresses the initial question from the perspectives of the various disciplines represented in the department. It is clear from the outset that the question as posed cannot be meaningfully answered with a "yes" or "no". Rather, it breaks down into a whole series of individual questions that must and will be subjected to individual consideration and analysis in various social, cultural and political areas. Which issues, often highly emotionally charged, trigger the formation of camps and rifts? Are they cracks on the surface or do they reach into the deep tectonics of society? Are the tectonic plates of the basic social structure shifting and disintegrating? Is there a broad social consensus in the depths, but is it being drowned out by loud cries from the front? What and who is fuelling polarization on the surface, what is driving or preventing it from breaking through into the depths? Are polarization and the loss of social consensus the price that a culture of diversity has to pay? And what challenges do these questions pose for the cultural and social sciences?

On Tuesday, 18.06.2024, Annalena Groppe will give her lecture "Peace education challenges and potentials in polarizing conflicts over democracy: An analysis using the regional case study of Hambach Castle in Neustadt". The lecture series will take place at 18:15 in conference room CI 1 on the Landau campus.