Battle for Britain: Analyzing Events as Drivers of Political Tribalism in Twitter Discussions of Brexit

North, Samantha; Piwek, Lukasz; Joinson, Adam

doi:10.1002/poi3.247

Cited by 12 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 40 publications

(47 reference statements)

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“…Polarization. Most articles found detrimental associations between digital media and different forms of political polarization [110][111][112][113][114]. Our review found evidence for increasing out-group polarization on social media in a range of political contexts and on various platforms [115][116][117][118].…”

Section: Few Articles Have Shed Light On Causal Effects Between Social Media Use and Trust A Field Experiments In The Unitedmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Systematic Review of Worldwide Causal and Correlational Evidence on Digital Media and Democracy

Lorenz-Spreen¹,

Oswald²,

Lewandowsky³

et al. 2021

Preprint

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One of today's most controversial and consequential questions is whether the rapid, worldwide uptake of digital media is causally related to a decline in democracy. We conducted a systematic review of causal and correlational evidence (N=498 articles) on the link between digital media and different political variables, such as trust, polarization or news consumption. We further focused on the subset of articles that employed causal inference methods. Across methods, the articles report associations between digital media use and most political variables. Some associations, such as increases in political participation and information consumption, are likely to be beneficial for democracy and were often observed in the Global South and emerging democracies. Other consistently reported associations, such as declining political trust, advantages for populists, and growing polarization, are likely to be detrimental to democracy and were more pronounced in established democracies. We conclude that while the impact of digital media on democracy depends on the specific political variable and the political system in question, several variables show clear directions of associations. We believe that the evidence calls for further research efforts and vigilance by governments and civil societies to better understand and actively design the intimate interplay of digital media and democracy.

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Section: Few Articles Have Shed Light On Causal Effects Between Social Media Use and Trust A Field Experiments In The Unitedmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Systematic Review of Worldwide Causal and Correlational Evidence on Digital Media and Democracy

Lorenz-Spreen¹,

Oswald²,

Lewandowsky³

et al. 2021

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Beyond this, engagement with large-scale social media normally takes two forms, either fitting models to observed social media data (e.g., [22], [44], [52], [78], [71]), or indepth observation of social media in its own right, which frequently characterises the extent and depth of polarisation (e.g., [67], [6], [88], [35], [30], [33], [45], [2], [18], [50], [39], [8]). In terms of model fitting, this is directed at prediction of opinion formation, and data from Twitter has frequently been used.…”

Section: Meta-analysis Across Existing Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

The Coevolution of Social Networks and Cognitive Dissonance

Whitaker

Colombo

Turner

et al. 2022

IEEE Trans. Comput. Soc. Syst.

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Cognitive dissonance is well-understood as a significant psychological motivator of behaviour. It can be experienced vicariously when a member of one's social group acts inconsistently to expectations. In this paper we explore the network implications from individuals reconciling cognitive friction when their neighbours hold alternative views. Through agent-based modelling, we introduce a framework to explore the sensitivity of behaviour on social network structure, in response to vicarious dissonance. The model allows us to understand how and why vicarious dissonance may contribute to polarisation, both in terms of network structure and the convictions held by individuals. Alternative response behaviours are each found to be highly effective in reducing the cognitive dissonance felt across a population, but with wide ranging outcomes for the population as a whole. The results highlight the important role of neutrality and tolerance in retaining social cohesion, while showing how easily this can be disrupted. The model presents a useful tool for further research, allowing bespoke scenarios to be investigated.

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“…Partly building on these seminal works, other social scientists have empirically studied the links between globalisation, nationalism and neo-tribalism (James, 2006) as well as their relationships with social networking sites and Big Data. Recently, for example, North et al. (2019) have investigated Twitter discussions about Brexit, noting that ‘the digital age has exacerbated political tribalism’ due to the ‘network effect of homophily’, which facilitates the polarisation of users (Bakshy et al., 2015: 1130; North et al., 2019: 27; Yardi and Boyd, 2010).…”

Section: Heritage and Neo-tribalismmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Recently, for example, North et al. (2019) have investigated Twitter discussions about Brexit, noting that ‘the digital age has exacerbated political tribalism’ due to the ‘network effect of homophily’, which facilitates the polarisation of users (Bakshy et al., 2015: 1130; North et al., 2019: 27; Yardi and Boyd, 2010).…”

Section: Heritage and Neo-tribalismmentioning

confidence: 99%

Heritage-based tribalism in Big Data ecologies: Deploying origin myths for antagonistic othering

Bonacchi

Krzyzanska

2021

Big Data & Society

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This article presents a conceptual and methodological framework to study heritage-based tribalism in Big Data ecologies by combining approaches from the humanities, social and computing sciences. We use such a framework to examine how ideas of human origin and ancestry are deployed on Twitter for purposes of antagonistic ‘othering’. Our goal is to equip researchers with theory and analytical tools for investigating divisive online uses of the past in today’s networked societies. In particular, we apply notions of heritage, othering and neo-tribalism, and both data-intensive and qualitative methods to the case of people’s engagements with the news of Cheddar Man’s DNA on Twitter. We show that heritage-based tribalism in Big Data ecologies is uniquely shaped as an assemblage by the coalescing of different forms of antagonistic othering. Those that co-occur most frequently are the ones that draw on ‘Views on Race’, ‘Trust in Experts’ and ‘Political Leaning’. The framings of the news that were most influential in triggering heritage-based tribalism were introduced by both right- and left-leaning newspaper outlets and by activist websites. We conclude that heritage-themed communications that rely on provocative narratives on social media tend to be labelled as political and not to be conducive to positive change in people’s attitudes towards issues such as racism.

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Battle for Britain: Analyzing Events as Drivers of Political Tribalism in Twitter Discussions of Brexit

Cited by 12 publications

References 40 publications

A Systematic Review of Worldwide Causal and Correlational Evidence on Digital Media and Democracy

A Systematic Review of Worldwide Causal and Correlational Evidence on Digital Media and Democracy

The Coevolution of Social Networks and Cognitive Dissonance

Heritage-based tribalism in Big Data ecologies: Deploying origin myths for antagonistic othering

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