scholarly journals “Be Nice or Leave Me Alone”: An Intergroup Perspective on Affective Polarization in Online Political Discussions

2021 ◽  
pp. 009365022110425
Author(s):  
Nahema Marchal

Affective polarization—growing animosity and hostility between political rivals—has become increasingly characteristic of Western politics. While this phenomenon is well-documented through surveys, few studies investigate whether and how it manifests in the digital context, and what mechanisms underpin it. Drawing on social identity and intergroup theories, this study employs computational methods to explore to what extent political discussions on Reddit’s r/politics are affectively polarized, and what communicative factors shape these affective biases. Results show that interactions between ideologically opposed users were significantly more negative than like-minded ones. These interactions were also more likely to be cut short than sustained if one user referred negatively to the other’s political in-group. Conversely, crosscutting interactions in which one of the users expressed positive sentiment toward the out-group were more likely to attract a positive than a negative response, thus mitigating intergroup affective bias. Implications for the study of online political communication dynamics are discussed.

Author(s):  
Enjang Pera Irawan

The dynamic of democracy has been widely open in Indonesia after the reformation was launched in 1998. Nowadays, Indonesian are already politically literate and become political subjects. Based on these conditions, the researcher is interested in conducting research related to the dynamics of the role of volunteer as political communicator in the election of Jakarta governor in 2017. The purpose of this research is to know how the communication dynamics of the volunteers in raising public support in the governor election of Jakarta 2017 using descriptive qualitative as the research method. The results show that the political communication strategy applied by the volunteers of Agus-Sylvi is to prioritize approaches such as: a) Creating togetherness b) making consensus with the community, and c) highlighting the character of SBY as part of strengthening the character of Agus. The message of political communication Agus-Sylvi volunteers are  vision mission and work programs that are delivered and packaged in a rational and emotional message. Political messages are delivered by volunteers through various meetings and dialogues, community service, social service, and casual conversation. Communication media used include conventional communication media such as banners, calendars, t-shirts. Then, digital media such as WhatsApp, website and application MataHati. Volunteer communication patterns used are internal coordination activity of volunteer and candidate (implementing vertical and horizontal communication pattern), and activity of message transfer from volunteer to society (implementing formal and informal communication pattern).


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. 2728
Author(s):  
Carlos Arcila-Calderón ◽  
David Blanco-Herrero ◽  
Maximiliano Frías-Vázquez ◽  
Francisco Seoane

High-profile events can trigger expressions of hate speech online, which in turn modifies attitudes and offline behavior towards stigmatized groups. This paper addresses the first path of this process using manual and computational methods to analyze the stream of Twitter messages in Spanish around the boat Aquarius (n = 24,254) before and after the announcement of the Spanish government to welcome the boat in June 2018, a milestone for asylum seekers acceptance in the EU and an event that was highly covered by media. It was observed that most of the messages were related to a few topics and had a generally positive sentiment, although a significant part of messages expressed rejection or hate—often supported by stereotypes and lies—towards refugees and migrants and towards politicians. These expressions grew after the announcement of hosting the boat, although the general sentiment of the messages became more positive. We discuss the theoretical, practical, and methodological implications of the study, and acknowledge limitations referred to the examined timeframe and to the preliminary condition of the conclusions.


The Forum ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 67-79 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yphtach Lelkes

Abstract American partisans are far more hostile towards out-party members than they were 40 years ago. While this phenomenon, often called affective polarization, is well-documented, political scientists disagree on its cause. One group of scholars believes that affective polarization is driven by processes related to social identity theory. In particular, cross-cutting identities have declined in America, and toxic political communication continuously primes partisan identities and resentment. Recently, several scholars have pointed to another phenomenon as the root cause of affective polarization: partisan sorting, i.e. the alignment of partisan identities with ideologically consistent issue positions. I review evidence in favor of each claim, and provide additional evidence that affective polarization has increased about as much among those who are not sorted as among those who are sorted. Furthermore, while sorting is only related to affective polarization among the most politically knowledgeable, affective polarization has increased across all levels of political knowledge. Finally, affective polarization may also increase sorting, further complicating any clear cut causal relationship.


2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 320-341 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jenny Roth ◽  
Michaela Huber ◽  
Annkatrin Juenger ◽  
James H. Liu

National identity is underpinned by historical representations. Recent research shows that narratives presenting an in-group’s history as discontinuous rather than continuous raise collective angst, suggesting that historical discontinuity threatens social identity. This previous research has focused on positive aspects of an in-group’s past. The present research aims to extend the findings to go beyond positive histories. We suggest that when the in-group’s actions in the past are presented as negative, historical continuity instead of discontinuity will increase perceived identity threat because a negative, continuous history threatens group members’ need for a positive social identity in the present. In an experiment with a sample size of N = 316, we manipulated the narrated valence of in-group actions during the historical event of the approval of the German constitutional law by framing the group’s actions in either positive or negative terms. In addition, we presented the in-group’s history as connected or disconnected to the in-group’s present. Results demonstrate that historical continuity only decreased identity threat compared to historical discontinuity when the in-group’s past behavior was presented as positive. When the in-group’s past was presented as negative, continuity even increased identity threat compared to historical discontinuity. These results were particularly pronounced for people who strongly identified with their national in-group. We discuss implications of the findings for political communication and managing a nation’s perception of social identity threat.


2012 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 285-308 ◽  
Author(s):  
Naomi J. McCormick ◽  
Mark L. Joseph ◽  
Robert J. Chaskin

Public housing residents have long experienced stigma as members of an urban “underclass.” One policy response is the creation of mixed–income developments; by deconcentrating poverty and integrating residents into communities in which their residences are indistinguishable from neighbors, such efforts might reduce stigma associated with residency in traditional public housing. Through in–depth interviews with 35 relocated public housing residents and 184 field observations at three mixed–income developments in Chicago, we find this is not the case. Stigma associated with living in public housing is ameliorated, yet residents report that their experience of stigma has intensified in other ways. The negative response of higher–income residents, along with stringent screening and rule enforcement, amplifies the sense of difference many residents feel in these contexts. We demonstrate that this new form of stigma has generated a range of coping responses as relocated public housing residents seek to maintain eligibility while buttressing their social identity.


Author(s):  
Paul A. Djupe ◽  
Brian R. Calfano

In the main, the link between religious variables and political choices is wrapped up in a communicative process of exposure and adoption. Specifically, people become exposed to religious teachings and viewpoints within religious contexts, they then must determine whether and to what extent they will adopt those teachings and viewpoints as their own, and then they must adapt them to political ends. Critical to this approach is the acknowledgment that religious social and institutional contexts are rife with diversity, even within religious traditions. This diversity extends to religious adherents, congregations, and elites and means that people receive a variety of religious and political cues from religious sources across time and space. It is this variation that is critical to measure in order to understand religion’s effects on political behavior. That is, documenting the implications of religious diversity is as much a question of research design as it is a theoretical framework. This framework is flexible enough to accommodate the growing literature examining political input effects on religious output. The norms and patterns of exposure and adoption vary by the combination of the communicator and context: political communication in congregations, religious communication effects on politics in congregations, and religious communication by elites in public space. There are very few instances of political elites in religious spaces, at least in the United States. Presidents and other political elites have used religious rhetoric throughout American history in varying proportions, though how they have used it is changing in the Trump era to be much more particularistic and exclusive rather than the traditional broad and inclusive language of past presidents. A central variable moderating the impact of communication is credibility, which can be demonstrated in multiple ways, including political agreement as well as religious office, rhetorical choices, and decision-making processes. Religious elites, especially, battle against the weight of history, inattention, and misperception in their attempts to lead prophetically. As a result, religious elite influence, in the sense of changing hearts and minds, is a fraught enterprise. Naturally, we recommend adopting research designs that are appropriate for incorporating measurement on communication exposure so we can appropriately understand adoption decisions. This demands some creativity on behalf of researchers, which also drives them toward experimental work where exposure questions are built into the design and affords them a great deal of control.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manuel Cargnino ◽  
German Neubaum

The growing significance of social networking sites (SNS) for political communication has been stimulating research on the psychological consequences of virtually conveyed opinion climates. The present research suggests that the exposure to both overly congruent and incongruent opinion climates on SNS can increase opinion strength and selective exposure while decreasing political tolerance. It is proposed that a balance of congruent and incongruent views can mitigate these effects provided that users do not identify with an ideological camp. In a representative pre-registered online experiment (N = 704), the levels of political congruence with an opinion climate on SNS and political social identity were manipulated. Different from what was hypothesized, results revealed very limited effects of political congruence. A salient political social identity decreases tolerance and opinion strength, but only for certain political issues. These results put earlier findings on the impact of opinion climates conveyed by social media into perspective.


2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 373
Author(s):  
Mohammad Makinuddin

This study is conducted to comprehend the politicization of religion typology based on the use of Al-Qur’an language on the narrative of the politic in Indonesia. The politicization of religion is a widespread phenomenon among Indonesian people. Some political events in Indonesia cannot be separated from religious symbols, for example, conveying Al-Qur’an theorems to spread political agendas. Al-Qur’an, its communicative language characteristics, is frequently used as a mediator to spread particular narratives for power. This study uses a qualitative approach by gathering contents or narratives related to Al-Qur’an verses for a political power struggle in Indonesia. This study uses the linguistic method to see how the discourses of Al-Qur’an as a language of religion become a tool to build a social identity related to politics. The result of this study shows that Al-Qur’an can be a mediator in the spread of political narratives. Besides, the characteristics of the Al-Qur’an language, which tend to have communicative feel, can potentially be used as a political communication tool. This study has a contribution toward the development of politicization of religion typology through the Al-Qur’an language. Al-Qur’an and its user have a connection with various discourses and debates in particular contexts. Therefore, to comprehend an interpretation, it is essential to see the context and society's need when analysing a text.


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