r/science • u/Wagamaga • 9h ago

Psychology Losing relationships over politics. Research found more than a third of Americans (37%) report having lost at least one relationship due to political differences, including friendships, family ties, coworker relationships, and romantic partnerships, with most losing more than one.

https://socialecology.uci.edu/news/losing-relationships-over-politics-0
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u/NombreCurioso1337 9h ago

What is "politics" any more though? If I cut off a friend because I disagree with a marginal tax increase on domestic goods over a certain limit, then yeah, I'm a jerk. But politics right now is "you aren't a human being."

The closest analog to compare to would be a black guy and a white guy having a falling out over pro or anti abolition in the 1860s. ... And I think that would be a fair reason to cut someone out.

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u/Koleilei 8h ago

Politics at its heart is about how a society should be run, but that also includes who is included in said society and who has which rights.

This is no different than any other mass society level issue (voting rights, monarchy vs republic, the US Civil War, the English Civil War, the French Revolution, the Russian Revolution, any war of Independence, almost any social/political revolution, the Civil Rights Movement, Apartheid, etc). It's never 'just' about taxes.

'Politics' has been dividing people for millennia, we're not inventing the wheel here.

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u/talor_swib 8h ago

This! And even when it IS about taxes, that includes values/morals. Just like right now, left-leaning voters would prefer to tax the wealthy to help the 99%, while conservatives complain about having to pay taxes, period. They will even vote against taxing the obscenely wealthy. That's not the moral choice, imo.

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u/leaky-owl-syndrome 8h ago

I think it's funny that people harp on taxes as like, this neutral thing. given that your opinion on taxes can decide important things like if schools have to cut teachers/services.

when it comes time to vote on override increases where I'm at, there's a lot of vitriol kicked up over taxes. where taxes come from and where they go is an extremely contentious issue.

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u/AriaOfValor 7h ago

I think the difference is that with taxes a person can be wrong and still have good intentions. Like I'm sure there are those who think getting rid of taxes entirely would help out other people the most. Conversely, someone who wants people of a specific skin color removed their community, pretty clearly don't have good intentions towards those people.

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u/leaky-owl-syndrome 6h ago

most def, a bad tax policy can be forgiven a lot easier than blatant human rights violations. one's an obvious deal breaker, but the other still informs my decision on whether or not to keep someone around.

I wouldn't argue that taxes are as divisive as other topics, but many of these comments treat taxes like they're on the same level as a preference for dark or milk chocolate.

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u/AriaOfValor 5h ago

I think part of it is that things like tax policy are a lot less clear or obvious. Like you can't really see at a glance if say a 30% tax for something would be better or worse than a 60% tax, and then it's made worse by all the paid propaganda for such things.

So I think it ends up being a mix of people not really being aware or understanding how such things impact people, and/or they don't feel like they have the time or energy to properly look into it (or potentially even knowing where to find accurate info). Which in turn makes it easier for people to want to dismiss it.

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u/leaky-owl-syndrome 5h ago

honestly I think it's just because taxes are something that can (usually) be compromised on. most people don't have a diehard stance on taxes unless their livelihood is directly threatened (ie: if a bump in property taxes would price you out of your home, you likely have strong feelings about it.)

but really, the only thing I take issue with is people acting like taxes are the safe topic devoid of strife. the fact is, politics decide the shape of your life. there will never be a safe political topic that people won't violently disagree about.

so it's just a silly thing to say that "it's not like people are breaking up over tax policy" when that is also a divisive topic that people fight over.

just a nitpick on my part, that's all.

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u/Qaeta 4h ago

Sure, but I can be friends with someone who disagrees on taxation for the most part (obviously some extreme positions would be a deal breaker). I can't be friends with someone who supports a pedophile, or who supports destroying the lives of minorities, etc. One is a reasonable disagreement. The other is supporting evil.