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Abstract(s)
A polarização política no meio digital é um assunto de crescente prevalência mediática. No entanto, a literatura apresenta algumas lacunas. O termo “polarização política” é nebuloso e refere-se, em estudos escritos em língua inglesa, a três conceitos distintos: polarização interacional (interações maioritariamente homofílicas), polarização posicional (posições políticas mais extremas) e polarização afetiva (atitudes e emoções negativas em relação a opositores políticos) e só recentemente se começou a fazer uma distinção. Para além disso, os estudos são quase exclusivamente quantitativos e focados apenas no X/Twitter. Foram realizadas 10 entrevistas semi-estruturadas para entender os mecanismos e processos internos que decorrem na utilização das redes sociais dos jovens portugueses que culminam em diferentes aspetos da polarização política (ou falta dela). Os resultados demonstram que as redes sociais podem contribuir para o aumento ou diminuição de todas as dimensões da polarização, dependendo do indivíduo (provavelmente devido ao contexto familiar ou escolar em que foram socializados). As interações heterofílicas podem ver um aumento ou diminuição. As interações nas redes sociais, apesar de tenderem para a homofília incluem necessariamente alguma exposição a conteúdo heterofílico, exceto uma minoria de ideologias consideradas não só divergentes, mas também perigosas ou preconceituosas que são filtradas ou ativamente desacreditadas de modo que a exposição ao seu conteúdo é inexistente ou irrelevante. Consequentemente, os níveis de polarização afetiva são também seletivamente baixos, a exceção sendo quando se trata de indivíduos aderentes a essas mesmas ideologias perigosas, com os quais a interação e a amizade são indesejáveis. As posições políticas vieram a extremar ou moderar, dependendo do caso, embora o estudo desta dimensão tenha sido o menos bem sucedido. A natureza exploratória do estudo revelou muitos fatores raros ou ausentes na bibliografia que levaram a sugestões para como melhorar a qualidade da análise futura. O estágio foi realizado no Social Media Lab da TVI entre 6 de Fevereiro e 6 de Junho de 2023, no entanto o tema e a pesquisa tiveram de ser relativamente independentes, devido à data do mesmo.
Political polarization in the digital sphere is a topic of increasing mediatic prevalence. This relatively recent topic has received some attention in the literature that presented a big empirical scarcity 10 years ago, however, there are a few problems with it. “Political polarization” is a nebulous term that refers to any of three different concepts that only recently began being treated as separate: interactional polarization (tendency toward homophilic interactions), positional polarization (adopting increasingly extreme political positions) and affective polarization (negative attitudes and emotions toward political opposition). In addition, studies are almost exclusively quantitative and focused on X/Twitter. 10 semi-structured interviews were conducted in order to understand the internal processes and mechanisms in play during social media use of the Portuguese youth that culminate in different aspects of polarization (or lack thereof). The results show social media may contribute to an increase or decrease in all dimensions of polarization depending on the individual (likely due to the family or school environment they were socialized in). Heterophilic interactions may increase or decrease. Although interaction on social media trends toward homophily it includes, almost necessarily, some exposure to heterophilic content, except a minority of ideologies that are considered not just divergent but also dangerous or bigoted, these ideologies are filtered out or actively discredited making exposure to them inexistent or irrelevant. Consequently, affective polarization levels are also selectively low, with the exception being individuals who adhere to these dangerous ideologies, with whom interaction and friendship is undesirable. Political positions moderated or grew extreme depending on the individual, the study of this dimension was, however, the least successful. The exploratory nature of the study revealed a lot of relevant factors that are rare or absent in the literature which lead to suggestions on how to improve future analysis. The internship occurred in TVI’s Social Media Lab between the 6th of February and the 6th of June, however, because of this date, the topic and research had to be relatively independent.
Political polarization in the digital sphere is a topic of increasing mediatic prevalence. This relatively recent topic has received some attention in the literature that presented a big empirical scarcity 10 years ago, however, there are a few problems with it. “Political polarization” is a nebulous term that refers to any of three different concepts that only recently began being treated as separate: interactional polarization (tendency toward homophilic interactions), positional polarization (adopting increasingly extreme political positions) and affective polarization (negative attitudes and emotions toward political opposition). In addition, studies are almost exclusively quantitative and focused on X/Twitter. 10 semi-structured interviews were conducted in order to understand the internal processes and mechanisms in play during social media use of the Portuguese youth that culminate in different aspects of polarization (or lack thereof). The results show social media may contribute to an increase or decrease in all dimensions of polarization depending on the individual (likely due to the family or school environment they were socialized in). Heterophilic interactions may increase or decrease. Although interaction on social media trends toward homophily it includes, almost necessarily, some exposure to heterophilic content, except a minority of ideologies that are considered not just divergent but also dangerous or bigoted, these ideologies are filtered out or actively discredited making exposure to them inexistent or irrelevant. Consequently, affective polarization levels are also selectively low, with the exception being individuals who adhere to these dangerous ideologies, with whom interaction and friendship is undesirable. Political positions moderated or grew extreme depending on the individual, the study of this dimension was, however, the least successful. The exploratory nature of the study revealed a lot of relevant factors that are rare or absent in the literature which lead to suggestions on how to improve future analysis. The internship occurred in TVI’s Social Media Lab between the 6th of February and the 6th of June, however, because of this date, the topic and research had to be relatively independent.
Description
Keywords
Polarização política Consumo de conteúdo político nas redes sociais Polarização interacional Polarização posicional Polarização afetiva Political polarization Consumption of political content on social media Interactional polarization Positional polarization Affective polarization