Bail, director of Duke University's Polarization Lab, is interviewed by Meagan Levinson of Princeton University Press about his newly released book.
Bail's "Breaking the Social Media Prism" provides a revealing look at how user behavior is powering deep social divisions online — and how we might yet defeat political tribalism on social media.
In an era of increasing social isolation, platforms like Facebook and Twitter are among the most important tools we have to understand each other. We use social media as a mirror to decipher our place in society, but, as Bail explains, it functions more like a prism that distorts our identities, empowers status-seeking extremists and renders moderates all but invisible.
"Breaking the Social Media Prism" challenges common myths about echo chambers, foreign misinformation campaigns, and radicalizing algorithms, revealing that the solution to political tribalism lies deep inside ourselves.
About the presenters:
Chris Bail is a professor of sociology and public policy at Duke University where he directs the Polarization Lab. He studies political tribalism, extremism, and social psychology using data from social media and tools from the emerging field of computational social science.
Meagan Levinson is executive editor and head of paperback publishing at Princeton University Press.
Presented in partnership with Princeton University Press
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