fragmentarisering

Fragmentarisering is the process by which a system, field, or society becomes increasingly divided into smaller, more autonomous parts, leading to greater heterogeneity and weaker overall integration. The term is used across the social sciences to describe how governance, media, markets, or social life become more segmented rather than monolithic.

In media and communication, fragmentarisering refers to audience fragmentation due to competition for attention and the rise of digital platforms, which produces many niche outlets and personalized content rather than a single national public. In politics, it denotes fragmentation of party systems and policy coalitions, with more political actors, issue-specific movements, and uneven governing majorities. In society, fragmentation relates to social segmentation along lines of income, ethnicity, lifestyle, or regional development, generating diverse experiences and reduced cross-cutting ties. In urban planning or geography, it can describe the division of urban areas into functionally separate neighborhoods or governance arrangements, reducing centralized planning and coordination.

Causes include digitalization, globalization, market liberalization, and decentralization of authority. Indicators include rising numbers of media outlets, smaller audience shares for traditional mass channels, more political parties and coalition governments, and increasing spatial or social segregation.

Impacts are mixed: fragmentation can foster pluralism, specialization, and innovation, but may hinder coordination, reduce social cohesion, and complicate policy design and delivery. Critics warn against conflating diversity with fragmentation, noting that networks and cross-cutting ties can still maintain coherence.

Fragmentarisering is used particularly in Dutch- and Scandinavian-language discourse, but the concept appears in broader European and American social theory to analyze the increasing diversity and dispersal of modern systems.