The role of (social) media in political polarization: a systematic review

Kubin, Emily; Sikorski, Christian von

doi:10.1080/23808985.2021.1976070

Cited by 228 publications

(174 citation statements)

References 77 publications

(88 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

106

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…At the level of institutions, the structures of public institutions (e.g., government [1] and social and mass media [61][62][63][64][65]) may amplify stereotypes, making each side seem like a caricature of itself by incentivizing provocative and outrageous rhetoric. These institutions are the platforms for public dialogue, and norms tilt towards hostility.…”

Section: What Causes Partisan Animosity?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Interventions to reduce partisan animosity

et al. 2022

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Rising partisan animosity is linked to less support for democracy and more support for political violence. Here we provide a multi-level review of interventions designed to improve partisan animosity, which we define as negative thoughts, feelings, and behaviors towards a political outgroup. We introduce the TRI framework for the three levels of interventions-Thoughts (correcting misconceptions, highlighting commonalities), Relationships (building dialogue skills, fostering positive contact), and Institutions (changing public discourse, transforming political structures)-and connect these levels by highlighting the importance of motivation and mobilization. Our review encompasses both interventions conducted as part of academic research projects, as well as real-world interventions led by practitioners in nonprofit organizations. We also explore the challenges of durability and scalability, examine self-fulfilling polarization and interventions that backfire, and discuss future directions for reducing partisan animosity.

show abstract

Section: What Causes Partisan Animosity?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Interventions to reduce partisan animosity

et al. 2022

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Section: What Causes Partisan Animosity?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Interventions to Reduce Partisan Animosity

Hartman¹,

Blakey²,

Womick³

et al. 2022

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Rising partisan animosity is linked to less support for democracy and more support for political violence. Here we provide a multi-level review of interventions designed to improve partisan animosity, which we define as negative thoughts, feelings, and behaviors towards a political outgroup. We introduce the TRI framework for the three levels of interventions—Thoughts (correcting misconceptions, highlighting commonalities), Relationships (building dialogue skills, fostering positive contact), and Institutions (changing public discourse, transforming political structures)—and connect these levels by highlighting the importance of motivation and mobilization. Our review encompasses both interventions conducted as part of academic research projects, as well as real-world interventions led by practitioners in nonprofit organizations. We also explore the challenges of durability and scalability, examine self-fulfilling polarization and interventions that backfire, and discuss future directions for reducing partisan animosity.

show abstract

“…However, further studies show that instead of promoting such democratic participation, in the digital sphere people strengthen their prior points of view (Ausserhofer and Maireder 2013) as they see the contents of those who they choose to follow, due to algorithmically recommended content, which also tends to be in line with their views and opinions as they are based on search history and users' past activity (Finn 2017;Mayer-Schönberger and Cukier 2013;Terren and Borge 2021). This has led authors to speak about the internet as a space that deepens filter bubbles (Pariser 2011) and political polarization (Kubin and von Sikorski 2021;Terren and Borge 2021). The platforms can mimic the capitalist dynamic of stratified attention, amplifying the messages of those who hold power (Casero-Ripollés 2021; Dubois and Gaffney 2014;Fuchs 2017), and previous studies show that the main recipients of politicians messages on social media are either politicians or the media, homophily being one of the reasons why they have been conceptualized as echo chambers of the elites (Bruns and Highfield 2013;Colleoni et al 2014).…”

Section: Introduction 1echo Chambers or Enhanced Public Sphere?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Who Did Spanish Politicians Start Following on Twitter? Homophilic Tendencies among the Political Elite

2022

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Political communication has undergone transformations since the advent of digital networks, but do these new platforms promote interactivity and a public sphere with a more democratic political debate or do they function as echo chambers of the elites? In this research, we study the accounts that Spanish politicians started following on Twitter from 2017 to 2020, with the aim of understanding whether they reproduce patterns of homophilic tendencies or if they give space to new voices. To do so, we selected a sample from the deputies that were in the Spanish parliament during the four years of the study and through a big data and machine learning software, we identified the accounts they started following as a network and categorized them. We combined manual and computational data analysis methods and used data visualization techniques to look for patterns and trends. The results suggest that the Spanish political elites exhibit homophilic behaviors in terms of account types and geographic proximity and present a gender balance among the accounts. This study also suggests that the behavior of the political elite presented particularities during the electoral period, where we can observe an intensification of the homophilic patterns.

show abstract

The role of (social) media in political polarization: a systematic review

Cited by 228 publications

References 77 publications

Interventions to reduce partisan animosity

Interventions to reduce partisan animosity

Interventions to Reduce Partisan Animosity

Who Did Spanish Politicians Start Following on Twitter? Homophilic Tendencies among the Political Elite

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About