Polarization and social media: A systematic review and research agenda

Swapan Deep Arora, Guninder Pal Singh, Anirban Chakraborty and Moutusy Maity

Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 2022, vol. 183, issue C

Abstract: The world of today presents a duality of phenomenal progress and persistent ills. Amid such existential contradictions, public deliberation forms one of the central pillars of a functional and progressive society. Though its relevance remains undoubted, interactions in the public sphere may often give way to misinformation, affect-driven predisposition, and homophily-based interactions, all reminiscent of polarization. While polarization remains a concern worldwide, structural changes, most notably, social media's advent and remarkable progress, have further redefined the meaning, scale, and diffusion of information. Accordingly, a tireless debate rages regarding the valence and strength of social media's influence on polarization. As an incremental means of resolving the complexity, we perform a systematic review of the extant scholarship and identify contingencies and mechanisms of social media's relationship with polarization. Further, we provide a conceptual framework, incorporating these intricacies while emphasizing the need to place this association in a broader frame. Our work contributes to theory by being one of the few reviews linking social media to polarization and providing a synthesis of contingent factors and underlying processes. We guide policy and practice by suggesting a future research framework.

Keywords: Polarization; Social media; Systematic review; Contingencies; Mechanisms; Conceptual framework (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:tefoso:v:183:y:2022:i:c:s0040162522004632

DOI: 10.1016/j.techfore.2022.121942

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