In the context where immigration divides the political space of Western societies, perceived social polarization as an explanation of collective action is surprisingly understudied in contemporary social psychology. We hypothesize that the more people perceive polarization, the more they will engage in collective action in line with their attitudes. Moreover, this effect should be explained by two interrelated factors: identification and perceived efficacy. Perceived polarization should shape how important immigration attitudes are for individuals’ self-definition and thereby believing oneself capable of making a change, which in turn triggers collective action. To test our predictions, we conducted three studies (Studies 1 and 2 were correlational and Study 3 experimental) among mobilized and non-mobilized samples in two countries (i.e., Belgium and Switzerland). Results partially support our predictions that perceived social polarization on immigration issues relates to engaging in collective action. Indirect effect analyses revealed the predominant role of identity dynamics in the social psychological processes linked to perceiving polarization. These results provide potential explanations to the strong mobilization that emerged since 2015 following the so-called migrant crisis. Implications of our findings for collective action literature are discussed.

在移民将西方社会的政治空间分开的情况下，令人惊讶地在当代社会心理学中研究了感知为社会分化的集体行动的解释。我们假设人们越是两极分化，他们越会按照自己的态度进行集体行动。此外，应通过两个相互关联的因素来解释这种影响：识别和感知功效。感知到的两极分化应该塑造移民态度对于个人的自我定义有多重要，从而相信自己有能力做出改变，从而触发集体行动。为了检验我们的预测，我们在两个国家（即，国家/地区）的动员样本和非动员样本中进行了三项研究（研究1和2是相关的，研究3是实验性的）比利时和瑞士）。结果部分支持了我们的预测，即关于移民问题的社会两极分化与参与集体行动有关。间接效应分析揭示了身份动态在与感知极化有关的社会心理过程中的主要作用。这些结果为自2015年以来所谓的移民危机以来的强烈动员提供了可能的解释。讨论了我们的发现对集体行动文献的影响。这些结果为自2015年以来所谓的移民危机以来的强烈动员提供了可能的解释。讨论了我们的发现对集体行动文献的影响。这些结果为自2015年以来所谓的移民危机以来的强烈动员提供了可能的解释。讨论了我们的发现对集体行动文献的影响。