Bart Brandsma is a philosopher, trainer and consultant. After studying political and social philosophy, he worked as a journalist and documentary maker for Filosofie Magazine, Amnesty International and public broadcasting, among others. He wrote the book 'De hel dat is de ander' and from his organization Inside Polarisation he trains numerous professionals in dealing with polarisation.

Basic laws

There are three basic laws within polarization. The first basic law is very simple namely, polarization is something other than conflict. Bart explains that polarization is a thought construct. "Take a conflict, the arrest of George Floyd. That has a place, time and issue. The mayor, the police officer, Georgy Floyd, you can be there. But with polarization just not. It's a thought construct, it's us-versus-them thinking. What you see emerge is that "we" the police versus the youth or the black minority. Another thought construction: no these are the people of black lives matter versus the white supremacy, the white majority. That thought construction that is slippery you can't grasp it and so you can't apply conflict management to it. You need something of polarization strategy. said the philosopher.

Depolarizing

"With depolarization, the most important thing is that you create a polarization map, so to speak. That you say: 'Who is actually involved in this monologue and, secondly, who are the joiners here? Whenever I do that with people in organizations, the result is that we know the pushers by name and the joiners are known. But there is one big question mark with the people in the middle. Who are they, what do they think?" Wondering what else Bart has to say about depolarizing, the other two basic laws and the five roles? Then listen to the latest episode of the Work Professor.

Links

More about Bart Brandsma

Find the book 'Polarization' here

More about the Working Professor

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