|Talks|

A New Perspective on Online Hate: Prosocial Networks of Antisocial Behavior

Distinguished Speaker Series
In-person
Past Talk
Joseph Walther
Distinguished Professor of Communication and Bertelsen Presidential Chair in Technology and Society / University of California, Santa Barbara
Dec 1, 2023
11:00 am
Dec 1, 2023
11:00 am
In-person
4 Thomas More St
London E1W 1YW, UK
The Roux Institute
Room
100 Fore Street
Portland, ME 04101
Network Science Institute
2nd floor
Network Science Institute
11th floor
177 Huntington Ave
Boston, MA 02115
Network Science Institute
2nd floor
Room
58 St Katharine's Way
London E1W 1LP, UK

Talk recording

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
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.
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Dec 01, 2023