Book Review: ‘Polarisation, Isolation, and Algorithms’ by Antoni Gutiérrez-Rubí

The political implications of technology are examined by the work of Antoni Gutiérrez-Rubí, a Spanish writer and international expert in political communication.His publications include Politics Under Scrutiny: Political Communication in the Era of WikiLeaks (2011), Politics in the Age of WhatsApp (2015), and the focus of this review, his latest book Polarisation, Isolation, and Algorithms: An Anatomy of the New Generations (2025).Across eight chapters, the book systematically analyses Generation Z; the characteristics that have defined them, the crises and contexts that have shaped them, the influence of social media on their lives, and their place in contemporary cultural and political struggles.The book also explores how political communication can be recalibrated to engage new generations and restore their trust in democracy.Methodologically, Gutiérrez-Rubí adopts a critical reading of generational theories and ultimately adopts the American classification model, which distinguishes six major cohorts: the Silent Generation, Baby Boomers, Generation X, Millennials (Generation Y), Generation Z, and Generation Alpha.To ensure empirical breadth and representativeness he draws on multiple sources, including public opinion data (Demoscopic data) from specialised international institutions and in-depth interviews with nine American and European experts in public policy, political demography, social anthropology, digital innovation, and data analysis.In addition, the author conducted a series of focus groups with Generation Z participants to gain first-hand insight into their concerns and aspirations.