Bridging Social Movements: Political Heterophily and Affective Depolarization

• In Event: 20861 - Section on Collective Behavior and Social Movements Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 11: Political Polarization and Radicalization

Abstract

While bridging is recognized as a practice of social movements, we investigate the contemporary U.S. political depolarization field to examine when bridging becomes a social movement type itself. We do this by analyzing 434 depolarization organizations, employing network and content analysis to assess the relationship between their stated approaches—ideological, partisan, affective, structural-political, and structural-nonpolitical—and their network ties on Twitter. We hypothesize that affective depolarization, uniquely prioritizing acceptance and connection across divides, will exhibit a distinct relationship with heterophily compared to other approaches focused on changing minds or institutions. Using Large Language Models (LLMs) to categorize organizational emphasis on these five approaches, and Exponential Random Graph Models (ERGMs) to analyze Twitter follower networks, our findings reveal a statistically significant positive association specifically between affective depolarization and political heterophily. Organizations emphasizing affective depolarization demonstrate a greater likelihood of building cross-political network ties. This suggests that a focus on affective depolarization uniquely drives depolarized following patterns within the depolarization field, is the best expression of the distinct bridging logic at the core of the depolarization field, and prefigures the changes the field seeks to bring about.

Authors

• Greg Wurm, Brigham Young University

• Cameron Braddock, Brigham Young University