Information Flows, Inequalities, and Perceived Polarization

Time: 
02.12.2019 - 12:00 to 13:30
Location : 
A 5,6 Raum A 231
Type of Event : 
AB B-Kolloquium
Lecturer: 
Prof. Lilach Nir
Lecturer affiliation: 
Hebrew University Jerusalem
Description: 

The hyper-connectivity of the modern world brings with it exposure to the dissimilar opinions and lives of others. Understanding how individuals react to dissimilar views is key to handling potential threats to social cohesion. These threats polarize intergroup relations, and challenge democratic norms of free speech, fact-based journalism, and political tolerance. Consequently, these challenges threaten to undermine the very legitimacy of democratic institutions such as elections or courts of justice. Empirical evidence, however, is confusing: both greater cosmopolitanism, and greater animosity, are outcomes of such information flows. Considerable scholarly effort in political science focused on the democratic potential of communication. Few, however, studied this process over time and comparatively. Most work that links empirically information environments with polarized, negative assessments of the out-group political party are based on evidence from recent years and in the United States. The purpose of this talk is to explicate conceptually and test comparatively the role of information environments as exacerbating or alleviating perceived social tensions. Using large-scale social surveys, fielded between 2006 and 2017, along with World Bank and United Nations indicators, I evidence the role information environments play in the relationship between economic inequalities and polarization.