Intensify/Enhance: How GenZ Perceives Social Media, Cohesion, and Politics in Tumult

• In Event: 20220 - Section on Communication, Information Technology, and Media Sociology Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Section on Communication, Information Technology, and Media Sociology Roundtable X: Social Media II

Abstract

In the lead-up to the 2024 U.S. General Election, the role of social media in shaping political engagement and narrative formation garnered significant attention from researchers, media, and technology industry stakeholders. While existing studies have examined social media's impact on political action, there is a paucity of research focusing on young adults' perceptions of its influence on their engagement and sense of social cohesion.
Employing Marshall McLuhan’s Tetrad of Effects as a theoretical framework, this study investigates how young adults perceive social media's role in political engagement. We conducted 203 semi-structured interviews with individuals aged 19 to 34 in Arizona during the period leading up to the 2024 General Election. Our preliminary findings indicate that social media shapes political engagement by influencing perceptions of social cohesion in four key areas: 1) Trust in others; 2) Sense of community; 3) Heightened awareness of political and social issues; 4) Social pressure.
These results suggest that social media functions not merely as a tool for political engagement but as a distinct discursive space, this being a digital neighborhood that reconfigures political interaction and perception.

Author

• Aaron Andrew-Baron Thompson, Arizona State University-Tempe