The Group Roots of Social Media Politics: Social Sorting Predicts Perceptions of and Engagement in Politics on Social Media

Abstract

Research on political partisans suggests that social media offer ideal playing fields for the group game of politics. This study considers how political and social identities interact to influence political communication on social media. Using an original two-wave survey of Americans fielded during the 2020 election period, we analyzed how social media users’ levels of social sorting—the alignment between racial, religious, ideological, and political identities—related to perceptions of and engagement in politics on social media. Results suggest that those with higher (vs. lower) levels of social sorting were more likely to perceive their social media environments as dominated by political content and conflict, and populated with politically interested and like-minded people. Auto-regressive panel models suggested that social sorting and political use of social media may be reciprocally related. Findings indicate social sorting may be a key concept for unearthing the group roots of politics on social media.