Computational approaches to online political expression: Rediscovering a ‘science of the social’

Dhavan V. Shah, Kathleen Bartzen Culver, Alexander Hanna, Timothy Macafee, Jung Hwan Yang

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapter

Abstract

Conversation has long held a place at the center of sociological inquiry. Beginning with Gabriel Tarde’s The Laws of Imitation and extending to work on the two-step flow and opinion leadership, talk among citizens has been understood as a key consequence of news exposure and a critical antecedent of opinion formation and political action. Digital media now shifts political talk to online settings, with email, messaging services and social media increasingly central to communication among citizens. To study everyday political talk online, this chapter advances computational social science approaches that combine natural language processing with social network mapping. It illustrates this approach with two case studies of online political talk in response to current events: (1) the verbal attack on Sandra Fluke, a women’s rights activist, by Rush Limbaugh on his radio show; and (2) the killing of Trayvon Martin, an unarmed African-American teen, by neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman.
Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationHandbook of Digital Politics
EditorsStephen Coleman, Deen Freelon
PublisherEdward Elgar Publishing
Pages281-305
Number of pages25
ISBN (Electronic)9781782548768
ISBN (Print)9781782548751
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 1 2015
Externally publishedYes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Social Sciences

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