Polarization and the Role of Digital Media

Group polarization is a dangerous phenomenon developing in democratic societies. It occurs when extreme views arise inside a group after deliberation. This mechanism leads to strong fragmentation on political and social issues and, in certain cases, to extremism and fanaticism. How have the Internet...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Micol Burighel
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: The University of Akureyri 2019-09-01
Series:Nordicum-Mediterraneum
Subjects:
Online Access:https://nome.unak.is/wordpress/volume-14-no-2-2019/conference-proceedings-volume-14-no-2-2019/polarization-and-the-role-of-digital-media/
Description
Summary:Group polarization is a dangerous phenomenon developing in democratic societies. It occurs when extreme views arise inside a group after deliberation. This mechanism leads to strong fragmentation on political and social issues and, in certain cases, to extremism and fanaticism. How have the Internet and social media shaped group polarization? This article is a review about the current state of the art, referring particularly to Cass Sunstein’s works and mentioning many empirical studies about polarization on social media. Online polarization will be analysed at three different levels: individual, social, and technological.
ISSN:1670-6242
1670-6242