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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
Incivility In 2022 Senatorial Elections, Mark Meyer
Incivility In 2022 Senatorial Elections, Mark Meyer
Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects
This honors capstone project will examine the effect of social media, specifically Twitter, on U.S. senate elections in 2022. It will track the tweets of personal and official campaign Twitter accounts from the end of the primary until election night in two “Toss Up” or highly contested seats in the 2022 senate elections. This project will examine the winner of the Republican and Democrat primaries only. All the tweets from the timeframe will be tracked and categorized by intention or use of the tweet. These categories will break down the tweet into what it was meant to do be it …
Follow The Court: Examining Judicial Homestyle Through Extrajudicial Communications On State Court Twitter, Cayleb Bryant Stives
Follow The Court: Examining Judicial Homestyle Through Extrajudicial Communications On State Court Twitter, Cayleb Bryant Stives
Open Access Theses & Dissertations
While institutional legitimacy can arise from multiple sources, much of the theorizing about courts has been developed for the federal judiciary, often specifically the US Supreme Court. My research recognizes that the connection between the public and judges on state courts is significantly more nuanced, and in many instances, direct. Notably, social networking sites like Twitter have quickly become a favored communication platform for fostering personal connections between political elites and their intended audiences. It is within these parasocial relationships I argue that favorable perceptions can be reinforced, bolstering the legitimacy of political actors and the institutions they represent. This …
Agendamelding And Covid-19: The Dance Of Horizontal And Vertical Media In A Pandemic, J. Benjamin Taylor, Milad Minooie, Chris J. Vargo
Agendamelding And Covid-19: The Dance Of Horizontal And Vertical Media In A Pandemic, J. Benjamin Taylor, Milad Minooie, Chris J. Vargo
Faculty Articles
How are attitudes formed in the 21st Century, and who sets the agenda for initial COVID-19 coverage in the United States? We explore these questions using a random sample of 6 million tweets from a population of 224 million tweets collected between January 2020 and June 2020. In conjunction with a content analysis of legacy media such as newspapers, we examine the second-level agendamelding process during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. The findings demonstrate that in the early weeks of the pandemic, public opinion on Twitter about the virus was distinctly different than the coverage …
The New Media Frontier: How Social Media Affects Partisan Attachments, Candidate Evaluations, And Political Emotions, Justin Allen Rose
The New Media Frontier: How Social Media Affects Partisan Attachments, Candidate Evaluations, And Political Emotions, Justin Allen Rose
Doctoral Dissertations
This dissertation seeks to further our understanding of individual social media use on polarization, evaluation of political candidates, and political emotions. Three separate articles are utilized to illuminate the effects of individual social media use. The first article pushes forward a theory which argues that social media is uniquely positioned to affect partisan feelings due to its propensity to lead individuals into echo chambers—online places that reinforce their existing opinions and attitudes. The second argues that social media plays into the hyper-partisan nature of the American political landscape, and by way, putting forward an atmosphere which will lead individuals to …
A Fake Future: The Threat Of Foreign Disinformation On The U.S. And Its Allies, Brandon M. Rubsamen
A Fake Future: The Threat Of Foreign Disinformation On The U.S. And Its Allies, Brandon M. Rubsamen
Global Tides
This paper attempts to explain the threat that foreign disinformation poses for the United States Intelligence Community and its allies. The paper examines Russian disinformation from both a historical and contemporary context and how its effect on Western democracies may only be exacerbated in light of Chinese involvement and evolving technologies. Fortunately, the paper also studies practices and strategies that the United States Intelligence Community and its allied foreign counterparts may use to respond. It is hoped that this study will help shed further light on Russian and Chinese disinformation campaigns and explain how the Intelligence Community can efficiently react.
The Lie-Brary Of Congress: Misinformation’S Grip On The American Legislative Process, Caleb Bitting
The Lie-Brary Of Congress: Misinformation’S Grip On The American Legislative Process, Caleb Bitting
Honors Theses
This thesis investigates the influence of misinformation on the policy-making pro- cess by examining its temporal relationship with congressional speech on the floor of Congress. Through the application of Granger causality tests, I aim to determine the extent to which misinformation permeates political discourse and affects representatives from both political parties. My findings reveal that misinformation drives congressional speech on certain issues, and it appears to have an asymmetrical impact on Republicans and Democrats. While not set up to answer the question about a false dichotomy, my thesis hints that Republicans spread significantly more systems-based misinformation than their Democratic counterparts.
Surfing The Kali Yuga: Tracking The Alt-Right On Twitter, Jaida Hodge-Adams
Surfing The Kali Yuga: Tracking The Alt-Right On Twitter, Jaida Hodge-Adams
Honors Projects
The alt-right is a hyper-extreme, decentralized network of far-right pundits and their doggish supporters that exists almost entirely online. Consumed by conspiracy and identity, the myths of bigoted ideologies like racism, antisemitism, and transphobia are taken for granted, and their ideology calls for violent ends by violent means. In the physical world, members of the alt-right often keep their rhetoric to themselves; Online, however, they find solace in a vast, international network of websites and forums that together form one giant echo chamber into which they can dump their darkest thoughts. Though any individual member of the alt-right may operate …
Liberty And Its Legacy An Analysis Of Freedom And Liberty In American Political Rhetoric, Ryan S. Kovarovics
Liberty And Its Legacy An Analysis Of Freedom And Liberty In American Political Rhetoric, Ryan S. Kovarovics
Honors Projects
The concept of freedom has always been central to the American identity, but its meaning has never been agreed on by all and has long been the subject of debate. An abridged explanation of the evolution of liberty’s meaning in political thought and American history is presented in the first chapter of this project. It demonstrates the long-standing importance of individual freedom in America and highlights some historical moments when liberty has come into conflict with other societal values. When used in American political rhetoric today, “freedom” and “liberty” typically take on a “negative” meaning that is focused mostly on …