Hate prompts participation

Examining the dynamic relationship between affective polarization and political participation

Bibliographic Data

ID6443561
AuthorsSangwon Lee (0000-0003-2471-8079, New Mexico State University), Jihyang Choi (0000-0001-9898-3401, Ewha Womans University, Republic of Korea, corresponding author), Chloe Ahn (0000-0003-1390-5215, University of Pennsylvania)
Year2023
Volume27
Issue1
Pages443-461
Publication date2023-06-05
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueNew Media & Society (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1461-4448 • E-ISSN: 1461-7315
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/14614448231177301
OpenAlexW4379389225
LanguageEN
Citations received13
References cited57

Political participation has long been considered a cornerstone of democracy. While most studies on political participation have been grounded on a normative approach, which assumes that political participation is driven by positive civic actions, recent studies suggest that political participation is also driven by negative forces such as overconfidence in knowledge and partisan communication flows. This article builds on the latter line of research by exploring the role of affective polarization on political participation. While this line of research is not new, it suffers from a lack of clear causal order. This study relies on three-wave panel data collected during the 2022 Korean presidential election. To ensure methodological rigor, we utilized both cross-lagged and fixed-effects panel analyses. Our findings show that affective polarization stimulates political participation rather than the reverse path. In addition, we did not observe a reciprocal relationship. Implications for democracy are discussed

Cornerstone · Democracy · Economics · Normative · Panel data · Panel survey · Polarization (electrochemistry · Political communication · Political science · Politics · Presidential election · Presidential system · Socioeconomics · Sociology · Survey data collection · Voting · Electoral Systems and Political Participation · Law · Psychology · Social and Cultural Dynamics · Social Media and Politics · Social Psychology