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Key points
- Work and home relationships are plagued with polarization that has only been aggravated by Covid-19, leading to deep divisions.
- With polarization opposing views are strengthened and entrenched so that they enforce opposition and fuel antagonism.
- Through imaginative empathy, we can value multiple perspectives and learn something we had not considered, without needing to agree.
Sometimes a longstanding, multinational company can get into deep trouble. We read about a company that provides stable employment to thousands of citizens that recently changed its vaccine mandate policy. Consequently, employees are “divided, demotivated and angry." It's a long story about the process of mandating and un-mandating, who did what, or not, and why employees are so furious. What we take away, foremost, from this scenario is the statement: "Divisions are deep, and unlikely to ever be bridged." It's polarization in action. (We choose not to link to the article out of respect of those involved.)
We live in unprecedented times. The Covid-19 virus has presented physical challenges to many of us. Mitigation measures―masks, lockdowns, social distancing, vaccines, and mandates—added another layer of challenge. And as if this was not enough, we are faced with shifting regulations, contradictory science, and variations in protocols. Consequently, we see mistrust in divergent and opposing sources of information. The question is: What to do about the resulting divisions? They won’t just go away. We need radical change to bridge the divide.
Even before Covid-19, we at Empathic Intervision saw polarization as a particularly troublesome issue. Opposing views tend to be strengthened and entrenched so that they enforce opposition and fuel antagonism. No matter the issue, you’re either with us or against us. Holding several perspectives at once has quickly seemed to become a lost art.
In the beginning of Covid lockdowns, you might remember an atmosphere of optimism. The hope was that regulations would usher in a new way of being together: Less impact on the planet, more family time, more human connection. Unfortunately, the optimism didn’t last, soon fading into agitation and further division.
Humanity, at this time, seems to be plagued by a tendency to polarize. The events of these last two years have increased divergence to extremes we could not have imagined. As we write this, we see polarization hurtling at breakneck speed towards a looming abyss. Families and friends don’t speak to each other. Political parties and their followers see no common ground. Things are said and done that cause irreconcilable damage. Are we prepared to risk a global rift? Are we prepared to become so divided that we live in separate and antagonistic extremes? Do we even consider the consequences of following such a path?
Polarization and Diverse Perspectives
Two years down the line Covid can be considered a wicked problem. A wicked problem is one that defies a simple description, has many causes, and is not easily solved. Very important to consider is that it "occurs in a social context where there are multiple stakeholders who understand it differently."
If we are to move forward, we need to recognize that science is not absolute, even among scientists. The very core of scientific discoveries are their uncertain, incomplete, and contested discourse. What is more, scientists exert in public their judgment about what is significant and useful, and this judgment shapes the framing and agenda of political decisions.
With Covid we have an entire globe of stakeholders, many of whom understand it differently. The science of Covid — the virus, treatments, vaccinations, and all mitigating factors — are uncertain, incomplete, contested, and also evolving. It's a perfect opportunity to put intentions into practice and see how far empathy can connect ever-widening viewpoints in meaningful ways.
Empathy for Radical Change
The radical change we need right now can be achieved through the practice of empathy. Empathy has become much sought-after in recent years. Despite its demand, though, it is in short supply, evident in the state of polarization. By empathy, we don’t mean warm, fuzzy, and soft-skilled. We don’t mean sympathy, compassion, or all agreeing with each other.
Considering the many disciplines in which empathy is understood, integrative empathy distinguishes five interconnected types of empathy: self-empathy, kinesthetic, reflective, and imaginative empathy, and empathic creativity. Taken together they offer us the opportunity to hold space for others, as they are.
Imaginative Empathy to Value Perspectives
Of the five types of empathy, imaginative empathy is the radical antidote to polarization. Since the five elements of empathy are interconnected, it builds upon a foundation of self-, kinesthetic and reflective empathy and requires empathic creativity to initiate change. However, distinct characteristics of imaginative empathy make it particularly valuable to tackle polarization:
- Imaginative empathy is the ability to gain insight into the experience of others through embodied imagination, stepping in and out of perspectives.
- Its practice guides us to be aware of, acknowledge, understand, and value the perspectives of others. It also enables engagement with multiple perspectives.
Imaginative empathy builds on perspective taking, but it is more than that: It uses ‘as-if’ acting and embodied imagination to embody another’s perspective in order to gain a living experience of their mental life. It doesn’t require you to agree with someone else, or to remain stuck in their perspective. It does require you to spend a few moments in their shoes, learning about another point of view.
We cannot know the experience of another but we can expand our own experience to consider other perspectives. Once we have an inkling of what that perspective might look like, we can step out of it, reflect, and compare it with what we already knew. We learn something new, something we had not considered before, without falling into the trap of having to agree or not. As a result, we can find a healthy boundary for the co-existence of varied points of view.
How do we ensure that some voices are not trampled on because they are not in line with a dominant narrative? How do we allow science its right to be uncertain, incomplete, and most importantly, contestable? The world needs diversity. Developing empathy is an essential capacity for moving forward in a post-Covid world — to bridge the divides, listen to each other, hold space for differences, and embrace our common humanity. And who knows, while we’re at it, we might find learning something new to be more interesting than being convinced of what we already think we know.
References
Pamuk, Z. (2021). Politics and Expertise: How to Use Science in a Democratic Society. Princeton University Press.
