Political Argument in Social Media Age: Time, Space, and Cognitive Shifts

What is it about?

This article discusses the challenges for studies of public or political argument in the age of social media and "the attention economy," where attention is scarce, communication is typically short, fast, and quickly replaced by something else. It is also in the context of widespread distrust of authoritative truth tellers. Arguments are thus more fragments, are highly emotional and do not always circulate beyond smaller networks. When they do (or flow back in the other direction from wider spheres of media to smaller, more closed networks, the often change form and meaning).

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Why is it important?

We've all heard of post-truth politics now. That's what we're talking about here. We need to figure out what the complexity of forces and relations are behind this relatively new phenomenon. Attempts to intervene in public argument would require a strong understanding about how public argument "works" in contemporary media, cultural, and cognitive conditions. Attention to these structures may lead us to want to revise these very structures, technologically and through regulation. http://www.jbe-platform.com/content/journals/10.1075/jaic.3.1.02har

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