Journal article
Examining the Role of Online Uncivil Discussion and Ideological Extremity on Illegal Protest
Media and communication (Lisboa), Vol.10(4), pp.94-104
09/01/2022
DOI: 10.17645/mac.v10i4.5694
Abstract
In recent years, there has been an increased academic interest revolving around the beneficial or pernicious effects of ideological extremity and (uncivil) political discussion over democracy. For instance, citizens' ideological predispositions and higher levels of political discussion have been linked with a more active and vibrant political life. In fact, ideologi-cal extremity and uncivil discussion foster institutionalized political engagement. However, less explored in the literature remains whether such polarization and uncivil discussions may be related to unlawful political behavior such as illegal protest. This study contends that one of the main drivers of illegal protest behavior lies in online uncivil political discus-sion, specifically through the normalization and activation of further incivility. We tested this through a two-wave panel data drawn from a diverse US sample and cross-sectional, lagged, and autoregressive regression models. Mediation ana-lysis was also conducted to test whether uncivil online discussion mediated the relationship between frequency of online political discussion and illegal protest engagement. Overall, we found that illegal protest was particularly associated with online uncivil discussion, while ideological extremity and other forms of online and offline discussions seemed to have no effect on unlawful protest over time.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Examining the Role of Online Uncivil Discussion and Ideological Extremity on Illegal Protest
- Creators
- Bingbing Zhang - Universidad de SalamancaIsabel Inguanzo - Universidad de SalamancaHomero Gil de Zúñiga - Pennsylvania State University
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Media and communication (Lisboa), Vol.10(4), pp.94-104
- DOI
- 10.17645/mac.v10i4.5694
- ISSN
- 2183-2439
- eISSN
- 2183-2439
- Publisher
- Cogitatio Press
- Number of pages
- 11
- Grant note
- "Beatriz Galindo Program" from the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation Universities Junta de Castilla y Leon PID2020115562GB-I00 / Spanish National Research Agency's Program for the Generation of Knowledge and the Scientific and Technological Strengthening Research + Development
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 09/01/2022
- Academic Unit
- Center for Social Science Innovation; School of Journalism and Mass Communication
- Record Identifier
- 9984446280902771
Metrics
13 Record Views