Between civic virtue and vice: Self-censorship of political views on social media among Norwegian young adults
While small groups leverage disproportionate visibility online, oftentimes resorting to hostile language, the use of social media for political expression by the majority of Norwegian users has been theorised in terms of lurking, inhibition, and self-restraint. Drawing from qualitative in-depth inte...
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Sciendo
2024-03-01
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| Series: | Nordicom Review |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.2478/nor-2024-0011 |
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| author | Mozdeika Lukas |
| author_facet | Mozdeika Lukas |
| author_sort | Mozdeika Lukas |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | While small groups leverage disproportionate visibility online, oftentimes resorting to hostile language, the use of social media for political expression by the majority of Norwegian users has been theorised in terms of lurking, inhibition, and self-restraint. Drawing from qualitative in-depth interviews with young adults of different political orientations and ethnic-cultural backgrounds in Oslo, Norway, I take an abductivehermeneutic approach to analyse their rationale for self-censorship. The findings reveal shared frustrations and risks that explain the prevalence of lurking yet point to different coping mechanisms and expression strategies adopted by the respondents. While progressives tend to internalise their reactions by withdrawing and avoiding confrontations, conservatives more often appeal to self-censorship on the presumption of actual censorship. Different styles of media use call into question divergent ideals of democratic theory, setting self-expressive rationality at odds with deliberative norms of citizenship. I argue that this can help explain increasing perceived political polarisation and disconnection tendencies. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-4bb753c677094f2d9480eeb54df45f11 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2001-5119 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-03-01 |
| publisher | Sciendo |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Nordicom Review |
| spelling | doaj-art-4bb753c677094f2d9480eeb54df45f112025-02-02T15:48:50ZengSciendoNordicom Review2001-51192024-03-0145s115217210.2478/nor-2024-0011Between civic virtue and vice: Self-censorship of political views on social media among Norwegian young adultsMozdeika Lukas0Department of Journalism and Media Studies, Oslo Metropolitan University, NorwayWhile small groups leverage disproportionate visibility online, oftentimes resorting to hostile language, the use of social media for political expression by the majority of Norwegian users has been theorised in terms of lurking, inhibition, and self-restraint. Drawing from qualitative in-depth interviews with young adults of different political orientations and ethnic-cultural backgrounds in Oslo, Norway, I take an abductivehermeneutic approach to analyse their rationale for self-censorship. The findings reveal shared frustrations and risks that explain the prevalence of lurking yet point to different coping mechanisms and expression strategies adopted by the respondents. While progressives tend to internalise their reactions by withdrawing and avoiding confrontations, conservatives more often appeal to self-censorship on the presumption of actual censorship. Different styles of media use call into question divergent ideals of democratic theory, setting self-expressive rationality at odds with deliberative norms of citizenship. I argue that this can help explain increasing perceived political polarisation and disconnection tendencies.https://doi.org/10.2478/nor-2024-0011self-censorshipsocial mediapolitical expressioncivic virtuesdigital public sphere |
| spellingShingle | Mozdeika Lukas Between civic virtue and vice: Self-censorship of political views on social media among Norwegian young adults Nordicom Review self-censorship social media political expression civic virtues digital public sphere |
| title | Between civic virtue and vice: Self-censorship of political views on social media among Norwegian young adults |
| title_full | Between civic virtue and vice: Self-censorship of political views on social media among Norwegian young adults |
| title_fullStr | Between civic virtue and vice: Self-censorship of political views on social media among Norwegian young adults |
| title_full_unstemmed | Between civic virtue and vice: Self-censorship of political views on social media among Norwegian young adults |
| title_short | Between civic virtue and vice: Self-censorship of political views on social media among Norwegian young adults |
| title_sort | between civic virtue and vice self censorship of political views on social media among norwegian young adults |
| topic | self-censorship social media political expression civic virtues digital public sphere |
| url | https://doi.org/10.2478/nor-2024-0011 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT mozdeikalukas betweencivicvirtueandviceselfcensorshipofpoliticalviewsonsocialmediaamongnorwegianyoungadults |