From the june demonstrations to the moral crusade: The role of social media networks in political polarization

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to understand the role of social media networks in political polarization. From the viewpoint of the social shaping of technology, it develops a sociological and historical analysis of on-line sociability in a context defined by individualized use of connective devices. The 2013 demonstrations are taken as the turning point after which political disputes began to unfold through a moral grammar. The article analyses how the concentration of internet use on a few platforms has altered communications previously mediated between people in different contexts, unifying them in a way that accentuates binary oppositions and the shaping of polarized consensuses.