Extreme political polarization isn't a modern glitch; it's the original "operating system" of the United States.
April 14, 2026
Original Paper
Collective Narcissism in American Politics: A Historical Reflection
SSRN · 6456078
The Takeaway
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.
From the abstract
<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