B_09 Intergroup Conflicts and Symbolic Boundary-Drawing Practices in Digital Social Networks
Projects
- Sections:
- Constance
- Disciplines:
- Communication and Media Studies
Abstract
In light of the diagnosis of a divided society, this work package investigates how social media videos contribute to this perception. We examine how inequality between social groups is articulated, emotionally charged, and either reinforced or challenged through the consolidation of group boundaries.
Increasingly, public discourse refers to a division of German society, suggesting that exchange between different groups no longer functions. Communication on social media is often held partly responsible, as group identities become particularly salient in online environments.
This work package therefore explores how social media users mark group boundaries when addressing sensitive issues and how representations of a divided society emerge in these contexts. The focus lies on the public representation of group conflicts and boundaries, rather than on the measurement of individual attitudes.
Symbolic boundary-drawing practices in social media contributions are often highly emotional and may suggest a greater degree of division between social groups than actually exists. We therefore investigate how inequality between groups is thematized, (de)legitimized, and, above all, emotionally framed. Our empirical focus is on social media videos addressing contentious issues in migration, climate, and social policy, as well as the discussions that follow.
This work package (WP) builds on research on so-called “perceived polarization” and on the implicit assumption that diagnoses of societal division must always be understood as mediated by communication and perception. Unlike survey-based studies and group discussions on perceived polarization, this WP does not center on respondents’ attitudes but instead focuses on discursive indicators of polarization. By this we mean visible expressions in text, image, or sound that make it likely for audiences to interpret society as divided into hostile or extremely unequal groups.
For the analysis of polarization in discourse, we distinguish between explicit and implicit indicators. Explicit indicators of polarization in discourse presuppose a societal or metacommunicative reflection—for example, when social media users explicitly refer to social division or polarizing communication. Implicit indicators, by contrast, include toxic group labeling, stereotyping, or the demonstration of communicative non-cooperation in social media contributions. These implicit indicators are at the core of our analysis.
We examine the occurrence of such indicators in social media videos and their accompanying comment threads related to three exemplary contentious issues in migration, climate, and social policy. The findings of the WP contribute to an understanding of the discursive performance and visibility of group conflicts that emerge around societal flashpoints. In addition, we trace how these issues and key video contents circulate across different networks and “group publics,” where they activate rituals of boundary drawing and distinction.
