Arts & Sciences Events

Location

Jones Hall, Room 301
200 Ukrop Way
Williamsburg, VA 23185Map this location

Abstract: Three interconnected empirical realities have dramatically changed the day-to-day experience of politics in the last 20 years. The dawn of the Internet and the rise of cable news led to the proliferation of sources for political information, generating a media environment that allows for active choice between sources and consequently the possibility for selective exposure to ideologically consistent information. This fundamental alteration to the information environment has occurred alongside the development of an entirely new forum for social political interaction: the microblogging features of social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook. I argue that in the context of the increasing level of partisan polarization among American political elites, this radical change to the way that people express their political identities, access information, and communicate with each other about politics has profound implications for the way citizens view other citizens in the political system, fostering the development of affective polarization. In this talk, I will present the findings from a forthcoming paper exploring patterns of political status update posting on Facebook as well as discuss the argument and pilot findings from the book manuscript I am currently writing.

Contact

Gexin Yu