De volta à polarização: uma revisão epistemológica com base na análise de redes sociais
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.11606/0103-2070.ts.2025.231236Palavras-chave:
Polarização política no debate digital, Análise de redes sociais, Mídias sociaisResumo
O conceito de polarização política aparece cada vez mais no vocabulário acadêmico e midiático. No entanto, não existe uma definição única para esse termo que nos possibilite uma produção de conhecimento estruturada e coerente em relação à sua natureza, seus determinantes e consequências. Neste artigo, propomos definir uma variante da polarização política que ocorre em espaços de debate público digital. Pretendemos oferecer mais um recurso para aprimorar nossa capacidade de analisar contextos sociais e midiáticos polarizados. Para atingir esse objetivo, analisamos um conjunto de técnicas bibliométricas (mecanismos de extração de redes e detecção de comunidades) que nos permitiram estabelecer os termos que estruturam o debate acadêmico sobre polarização política no debate digital (análise de coocorrência de termos), a análise de cocitação de referências citadas que agrupam os trabalhos mais relevantes nesse campo, bem como seu conteúdo. Identificamos uma série de tendências comuns tanto no termo comunidades quanto naquelas definidas a partir de referências citadas. Verificamos que existem elementos centrais do debate acadêmico sobre esse tema. Esses elementos foram utilizados como base para nossa proposta de definição, que destaca o caráter processual da polarização política na comunicação digital. Este artigo pode ser útil, portanto, não apenas para cientistas sociais, mas também para especialistas em comunicação e políticos profissionais interessados em entender melhor o que é polarização política e seus limites e esferas de influência.
Downloads
Referências
Abramowitz, A. I. & Saunders, K. L. (2008), “Is polarization a myth?”. The Journal of Politics, 70 (2): 542-555. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022381608080493.
Adamic, L. A. & Glance, N. (2005), “The political blogosphere and the 2004 us election: divided they blog”. In: Proceedings of the 3rd international workshop on link discovery (36-43). https://doi.org/10.1145/1134271.1134277.
Allcott, H. & Gentzkow, M. (2017), “Social media and fake news in the 2016 election”. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 31 (2): 211-236. https://doi.org/10.1257/jep.31.2.211.
Bail, C. A.; Argyle, L. P.; Brown, T. W.; Bumpus, J. P.; Chen, H.; Fallin Hunzaker, M. B.; Lee, J.; Mann, M.; Merhout, F. & Volfovsky, A. (2018), “Exposure to opposing views on social media can increase political polarization”. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 115 (37): 9216-9221. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1804840115.
Bakshy, E., S.; Messing, S. & Adamic, L. A. (2015), “Exposure to ideologically diverse news and opinion on Facebook”. Science, 348 (6239): 1130-1132. Doi:10.1126/science.aaa1160.
Baldassarri, D. & Gelman, A. (2008), “Partisans without constraint: Political polarization and trends in American public opinion”. American Journal of Sociology, 114 (2): 408-446. https://doi.org/10.1086/590649.
Barberá, P. (2015), “Birds of the same feather tweet together: Bayesian ideal point estimation using Twitter data”. Political Analysis, 23 (1): 76-91. https://doi.org/10.1093/pan/mpu011.
Barberá, P.; Jost, J. T.; Tucker, J. A. & Bonneau, R. (2015), “Tweeting from left to right: Is online political communication more than an echo chamber?”. Psychological Science, 26 (10): 1531-1542. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797615594620.
Bauer, P. C. (2019), “Conceptualizing and measuring polarization: A review”. SocArXiv Papers. Unfinished Draft, Version September, 12: 1-38. https://doi.org/10.31235/osf.io/e5vp8.
Baum, M. A. & Groeling, T. (2008), “New media and the polarization of American political discourse”. Political Communication, 25 (4): 345-365. https://doi.org/10.1080/10584600802426965.
Bennett, W. L. & Iyengar, S. (2008), “A new era of minimal effects? The changing foundations of political communication”. Journal of Communication, 58 (4): 707-731. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-2466.2008.00410.x.
Blondel, V. D.; Guillaume, J. L.; Lambiotte, R. & Lefebvre, E. (2008), “Fast unfolding of communities in large networks”. Journal of Statistical Mechanics: Theory and Experiment, 10 10,008. 10.1088/1742-5468/2008/10/P10008.
Brundidge, J. (2010), “Encountering ‘difference’ in the contemporary public sphere: The contribution of the Internet to the heterogeneity of political discussion networks”. Journal of Communication, 60 (4): 680-700. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-2466.2010.01509.x.
Colleoni, E.; Rozza, A & Arvidsson, A. (2014), “Echo chamber or public sphere? Predicting political orientation and measuring political homophily in twitter using big data”. Journal of Communication, 64 (2): 317-332, https://doi.org/10.1111/jcom.12084.
Conover, M. D.; Gonçalves, B.; Gonçalves, A. & Menczer, F. (2012), “Partisan asymmetries in online political activity”. epj Data science 1(1)1-19. https://doi.org/10.1140/epjds6.
DiMaggio, P.; Evans, J. & Bryson, B. (1996), “Have American’s social attitudes become more polarized?”. American journal of Sociology, 102 (3): 690-755. https://doi.org/10.1086/230995.
Dubois, E. & Blank, G. (2018), “The echo chamber is overstated: the moderating effect of political interest and diverse media”. Information, Communication & Society, 21(5): 729-745. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2018.1428656.
Fiorina, M. P. & Abrams, S. J. (2008), “Political polarization in the American public”. Annu. Rev. Polit. Sci., 11: 563-588. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.polisci.11.053106.153836.
Flaxman, S.; Goel, S. & Rao, J. M. (2016), “Filter bubbles, echo chambers, and online news consumption”. Public Opinion Quarterly, 80 (S1): 298-320. https://doi.org/10.1093/poq/nfw006.
Garrett, R. K. (2009a), “Echo chambers online?: Politically motivated selective exposure among Internet news users”. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 14 (2): 265-285. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1083-6101.2009.01440.x.
Garrett, R. K. (2009b), “Politically motivated reinforcement reeking: Reframing the selective exposure debate”. Journal of Communication, 59 (4): 676-699. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-2466.2009.01452.x.
Garrett, R. K.; Carnahan, D. & Lynch, E. K. (2013), “A turn toward avoidance? Selective exposure to online political information, 2004-2008”. Political Behavior, 35 (1): 113-134. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11109-011-9185-6.
Gentzkow, M. & Shapiro, Jesse M. (2011), “Ideological segregation online and offline”. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 126 (4): 1799-1839. https://doi.org/10.1093/qje/qjr044.
González‐Bailón, S. & Lelkes, Y. (2023), “Do social media undermine social cohesion? A critical review”. Social Issues and Policy Review, 17 (1): 155-180. https://doi.org/10.1111/sipr.12091.
Gruzd, A. & Roy, J. (2014), “Investigating political polarization on Twitter: A Canadian perspective”. Policy & Internet, 6 (1): 28-45. https://doi.org/10.1002/1944-2866.POI354.
Guevara, J. A. (2022), Polarization measureson online social networks. PhD diss., Universidad Complutense de Madrid. https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/4170.
Hargittai, E.; Gallo, J. & Kane, M. (2008), “Cross-ideological discussions among conservative and liberal bloggers”. Public Choice, 134: 67-86. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11127-007-9201-x.
Iyengar, S. & Hahn, K. S. (2009), “Red media, blue media: Evidence of ideological selectivity in media use”. Journal of Communication, 59 (1): 19-39. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-2466.2008.01402.x.
Iyengar, S.; Sood, G. & Lelkes, Y. (2012), “Affect, not ideology: social identity perspective on polarization”. Public Opinion Quarterly, 76 (3): 405-431. doi:10.1093/poq/nfs038.
Iyengar, S. & Westwood, S. J. (2015), “Fear and loathing across party lines: New evidence on group polarization”. American Journal of Political Science, 59 (3): 690-707. https://doi.org/10.1111/ajps.12152.
Iyengar, S.; Lelkes, Y.; Levendusky, M.; Malhotra, N. & Westwood, S. J. (2019), “The origins and consequences of affective polarization in the United States”. Annual Review of Political Science, 22: 129-146. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-polisci-051117-073034.
Lawrence, E.; Sides, J. & Farrell, H. (2010), “Self-segregation or deliberation? Blog readership, participation, and polarization in American politics”. Perspectives on Politics, 8 (1): 141-157. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1537592709992714.
Lee, J. K.; Choi, J. Kim, C. & Kim, Y. (2014), “Social media, network heterogeneity, and opinion polarization”. Journal of Communication, 64 (4): 702-722. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcom.12077.
Mason, L. (2015), “‘I disrespectfully agree’: The differential effects of partisan sorting on social and issue polarization”. American Journal of Political Science, 59 (1): 128-145. https://doi.org/10.1111/ajps.12089.
McCright, A. M. & Dunlap, R. E. (2011), “The politicization of climate change and polarization in the American public’s views of global warming, 2001-2010”. The Sociological Quarterly, 52 (2): 155-194. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1533-8525.2011.01198.x.
McPherson, M.; Smith-Lovin, L. & Cook, J. M. (2001), “Birds of a feather: Homophily in social networks”. Annual Review of Sociology, 27 (1): 415-444. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.soc.27.1.415.
Messing, S. & Westwood, S. J. (2014), “Selective exposure in the age of social media: Endorsements Trump partisan source affiliation when selecting news online”. Communication Research, 41 (8), 1042-1063. https://doi.org/10.1177/0093650212466406.
Mutz, D. C. (2002), “The consequences of cross-cutting networks for political participation”. American Journal of Political Science, 46 (4): 838–55. https://doi.org/10.2307/3088437.
Mutz, D. C. (2006), Hearing the other side: Deliberative versus participatory democracy. Cambridge University Press.
Mutz, D. C. & Martínn, P. S. (2001), “Facilitating communication across lines of political difference: The role of mass media”. American Political Science Review, 95: 97-114. 10.1017/S0003055401000223.
Nyhan, B; Settle, J.; Thorson, E. and… Tucker, J.A. (2023), “Like-minded sources on Facebook are prevalent but not polarizing”. Nature, 620: 137-144. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-06297-w.
Osmundsen, M.: Bor, A.; Vahlstrup, P. B.; Bechmann, A. & Petersen, M. B. (2021), “Partisan polarization is the primary psychological motivation behind political fake news sharing on Twitter”. American Political Science Review, 115 (3): 999-1015. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003055421000290.
Papacharissi, Z. (2004), “Democracy online: Civility, politeness, and the democratic potential of online political discussion groups”. New Media & Society, 6 (2): 259-283. https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448040414.
Pariser, E. (2011), The filter bubble: How the new personalized web is changing what we read and how we think. Penguin.
Reilly, B. (2018), “Centripetalism and electoral moderation in established democracies”. Nationalism and Ethnic Politics, 24 (2): 201-221. https://doi.org/10.1080/13537113.2018.1457827.
Rowe, I. (2015), “Civility 2.0: A comparative analysis of incivility in online political discussion”. Information, Communication & Society, 18 (2): 121-138. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2014.940365.
Sobieraj, S. & Berry, J. M. (2011), “From incivility to outrage: Political discourse in blogs, talk radio, and cable news”. Political Communication, 2 (1): 19-41 http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10584609.2010.542360.
Stroud, N. J. (2008), “Media use and political predispositions: Revisiting the concept of selective exposure”. Polit Behav, 30: 341-366. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11109-007-9050-9.
Stroud, N. J. (2010), “Polarization and partisan selective exposure”. Journal of Communication, 60: 556-576. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-2466.2010.01497.x
Sunstein, C. R. (2001), Republic. com. Princeton, Princeton University Press.
Sunstein, C. R. (2002), “On a danger of deliberative democracy”. Daedalus, 131 (4), 120-124. https://www.jstor.org/stable/20027812.
Sunstein, C. R. (2017), #RepublicDivided democracy in the age of social media. Princeton, Princeton University Press.
Taber, C. S. & Lodge, M. (2006), “Motivated skepticism in the evaluation of political beliefs”. American Journal of Political Science, 50 (3): 755-769. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-5907.2006.00214.x.
Terren, L. & Borge-Bravo, R. (2021), “Echo chambers on social media: A systematic review of the literature”. Review of Communication Research, 9: 99-118. https://www.rcommunicationr.org/index.php/rcr/article/view/94.
Traag, V. A.; Waltman, L. & Van Eck, N. J. (2019), “From Louvain to Leiden: guaranteeing well-connected communities”. Sci Rep, 9: 5233. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-41695-z.
Tucker, J. A.; Guess, A.; Barbera, P.; Vaccari, C.; Siegel, A.; Sanovich, S.; Stukal, D. & Nyhan, B. (2018), “Social media, political polarization, and political disinformation: A review of the scientific literature”. http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3144139.
Van Eck, N. J. & Waltman, L. (2011), “Text mining and visualization using vosviewer”. ISSI Newsletter, 7 (3): 50-54. https://arxiv.org/abs/1109.2058.
Van Eck, N. J.; Waltman, L.; Noyons, E. C. M. & Buter, R. K. (2010), “Automatic term identification for bibliometric mapping”. Scientometrics, 82: 581–596. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-010-0173-0.
Velden, T.; Boyack, K.; Gläser, J.; Koopman, R.; Scharnhorst, A. & Wang, S. (2017), “Comparison of topic extraction approaches and their results”. Scientometrics, 111: 1169. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11192-017-2306-1.
Vosoughi, S.; Roy, D. & Aral, S. (2018), “The spread of true and false news online”. Science, 359 (6380): 1146-1151. 10.1126/science.aap9559.
Wojcieszak, M. E. & Mutz, D. C. (2009), “Online groups and political discourse: Do online discussion spaces facilitate exposure to political disagreement?”. Journal of Communication, 59 (1): 40-56. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-2466.2008.01403.x.
Wojcieszak, M. & Rojas, H. (2011), “Correlates of Party, Ideology and Issue Based Extremity in an era of Egocentric Publics”. The International Journal of Press/Politics, 16 (4): 488-507. https://doi.org/10.1177/1940161211418226.
Yardi, S. & Boyd, D. (2010), “Dynamic debates: An analysis of group polarization over time on twitter”. Bulletin of Science, Technology & Society, 30 (5): 316-327. https://doi.org/10.1002/1944-2866.POI354.
Downloads
Publicado
Edição
Seção
Licença
Copyright (c) 2025 Belen Casas-Mas, Ana Fernandez Zubieta, Jose Manuel Robles

Este trabalho está licenciado sob uma licença Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
