School of Social and Political Science

Description

Growing levels of political polarisation in western democracies around the world have fuelled discussions around how the threats to democratic values posed by an increasingly divided citizenry. One of the main focuses of this debate has been on the role of social media in exposing people to echo chambers, misinformation and other types of problematic content, such as uncivil discourse - raising questions around whether people selectively avoid political content on social media.

This talk sheds light on how online discussions affect relationships by investigating selective avoidance - actively blocking, unfriending and quitting social media because of politics. Using a nationally representative survey of internet users in Brazil (N= 1,615), I examine the relationship between social sanctions and political talk on Facebook and WhatsApp. Specifically, I explore whether negative experiences­­ - e.g. heated discussions, and being attacked - help explain blocking, unfriending or quitting discussions. Taking a comparative approach, these research questions also examine the extent to which the dynamics explaining selective avoidance are sensitive to different platform affordances.

Patrícia Rossini (Ph.D., 2017, Federal University of Minas Gerais) is a Senior Lecturer in Communication, Media & Democracy at the University of Glasgow. Prior to joining the University of Glasgow she was an inaugural Derby Fellow in the Department of Communication and Media at the University of Liverpool (2019-22), and a post-doctoral researcher at the School of Information Studies (iSchool) at Syracuse University (2017-19).

Broadly speaking, Patrícia studies the interplay between political communication and technologies, with a focus on digital threats to democracy - specifically, uncivil and intolerant online discourse, mis- and disinformation, as well as (dark) participation, democratic backsliding, and online campaigns. Her research has been funded by social media companies such as Facebook, Twitter, and WhatsApp; the British Academy, and the Knight Foundation (USA). You can find her full profile at the University of Glasgow here.