A New Perspective on Online Hate: Prosocial Networks of Antisocial Behavior
Distinguished Speaker Series
Joseph Walther
Distinguished Professor of Communication and Bertelsen Presidential Chair in Technology and Society / University of California, Santa Barbara
Past Talk
In-person talk
Friday
Dec 1, 2023
Watch video
11:00 am
EST
Virtual
177 Huntington Ave.
11th floor
Devon House
58 St Katharine's Way
London E1W 1LP, UK
Online
Register here
Previous research into online hate on social network sites--racist, religious, anti-immigrant, misogynistic, and similar attacks--assumes it is a product of individual malevolence. This talk describes new research advancing a social processes approach to understanding the propagation of hate messages in social media: networked, socially organized, performative, and motivated and gratified by social approval in online relationships using social media’s facilitating affordances. It concludes with speculation over new hypotheses, new methods, and possible outcomes.
About the speaker
About the speaker
Joe Walther holds the Bertelsen Presidential Chair in Technology and Society at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and is a Distinguished Professor of Communication. He is a visiting scholar at the the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University this year. A Fulbright Scholar and a Fellow of the International Communication Association, his research focuses on the impact of relational dynamics in the attitudes and behaviors people develop via mediated interaction, in interpersonal relationships, groups, and intergroup conflict.
Joe Walther holds the Bertelsen Presidential Chair in Technology and Society at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and is a Distinguished Professor of Communication. He is a visiting scholar at the the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University this year. A Fulbright Scholar and a Fellow of the International Communication Association, his research focuses on the impact of relational dynamics in the attitudes and behaviors people develop via mediated interaction, in interpersonal relationships, groups, and intergroup conflict.