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Title
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Social media and affective polarization : does Facebook news use fuel political in- and out-group affect in a multi-party context?
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Author
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Abstract
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| Western societies are increasingly facing a challenge of affective polarization; a trend where citizens develop a strong affective connection toward their own political side, while increasingly disliking and feeling animosity toward people with opposing political allegiances. One factor that is often seen as contributing to this growing trend are social media, particularly Facebook. However, so far, research that examines the relation between social media use and affective polarization is still scarce, and the studies that exist are inconclusive and often focus on two-party systems. Using data from a panel survey conducted around the 2019 elections in Flanders, this study sets out to investigate to what extent Facebook (news) use relates to affective polarization, specifically in the context of a multi-party system. We find evidence that Facebook news use is indeed associated with higher levels of affective polarization and that citizens who rely on Facebook for their news consumption become more affectively polarized over the span of an electoral campaign than those who relied on other media channels. Moreover, we demonstrate that this relationship exists because Facebook news relates both to increased positive feelings toward the in-group, and increased hostile feelings toward the out-group, although the latter to a lesser extent. |
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Language
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English
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Source (journal)
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Acta politica : international journal of political science. - Meppel, 1965, currens
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Publication
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Basingstoke
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Palgrave macmillan ltd
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2024
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ISSN
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0001-6810
[print]
1741-1416
[online]
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DOI
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10.1057/S41269-023-00324-4
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Volume/pages
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(2024)
, p. 1-21
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ISI
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001139288000001
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Full text (Publisher's DOI)
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Full text (publisher's version - intranet only)
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