TY - JOUR
T1 - What’s Not to Like? Facebook Page Likes Reveal Limited Polarization in Lifestyle Preferences
AU - Praet, Stiene
AU - Guess, Andrew M.
AU - Tucker, Joshua A.
AU - Bonneau, Richard
AU - Nagler, Jonathan
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by the Charles Koch Foundation [-]; Craig Newmark Philanthropies [-]; University of Antwerp [FFB160362BOF GOA]; John S. and James L. Knight Foundation [-]; U.S. National Science Foundation [-]; Siegel Family Endowment [-]; NYU Global Institute for Advanced Study [-]; William and Flora Hewlett Foundation [-]. This study has been approved by the New York University Institutional Review Board (IRB-12-9058, IRB-FY2017-150). We are grateful to Samantha Luks at YouGov for facilitating survey data collection and Jona Ronen for development and technical assistance. Thanks to Jen Rosiere Reynolds, lab manager at the Center for Social Media and Politics at New York University, Kira Schumm, and Shraman Sen for excellent research assistance. We also thank Jan Zilinsky and Cody Buntain for helpful feedback. Praet’s research was funded by University of Antwerp [FFB160362 BOF GOA]; the Center for Social Media and Politics at New York University is generously supported by funding from the U.S. National Science Foundation, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the Charles Koch Foundation, the Hewlett Foundation, Craig Newmark Philanthropies, the Siegel Family Endowment, and NYU’s Global Institute for Advanced Study.
Funding Information:
This study has been approved by the New York University Institutional Review Board (IRB-12-9058, IRB-FY2017-150). We are grateful to Samantha Luks at YouGov for facilitating survey data collection and Jona Ronen for development and technical assistance. Thanks to Jen Rosiere Reynolds, lab manager at the Center for Social Media and Politics at New York University, Kira Schumm, and Shraman Sen for excellent research assistance. We also thank Jan Zilinsky and Cody Buntain for helpful feedback. Praet’s research was funded by University of Antwerp [FFB160362 BOF GOA]; the Center for Social Media and Politics at New York University is generously supported by funding from the U.S. National Science Foundation, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the Charles Koch Foundation, the Hewlett Foundation, Craig Newmark Philanthropies, the Siegel Family Endowment, and NYU’s Global Institute for Advanced Study.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.
PY - 2022
Y1 - 2022
N2 - Increasing levels of political animosity in the United States invite speculation about whether polarization extends to aspects of daily life. However, empirical study about the relationship between political ideologies and lifestyle choices is limited by a lack of comprehensive data. In this research, we combine survey and Facebook Page “likes” data from more than 1,200 respondents to investigate the extent of polarization in lifestyle domains. Our results indicate that polarization is present in page categories that are somewhat related to politics–such as opinion leaders, partisan news sources, and topics related to identity and religion–but, perhaps surprisingly, it is mostly not evident in other domains, including sports, food, and music. On the individual level, we find that people who are higher in political news interest and have stronger ideological predispositions have a greater tendency to “like” ideologically homogeneous pages across categories. Our evidence, drawn from rare digital trace data covering more than 5,000 pages, adds nuance to the narrative of widespread polarization across lifestyle sectors and it suggests domains in which cross-cutting preferences are still observed in American life.
AB - Increasing levels of political animosity in the United States invite speculation about whether polarization extends to aspects of daily life. However, empirical study about the relationship between political ideologies and lifestyle choices is limited by a lack of comprehensive data. In this research, we combine survey and Facebook Page “likes” data from more than 1,200 respondents to investigate the extent of polarization in lifestyle domains. Our results indicate that polarization is present in page categories that are somewhat related to politics–such as opinion leaders, partisan news sources, and topics related to identity and religion–but, perhaps surprisingly, it is mostly not evident in other domains, including sports, food, and music. On the individual level, we find that people who are higher in political news interest and have stronger ideological predispositions have a greater tendency to “like” ideologically homogeneous pages across categories. Our evidence, drawn from rare digital trace data covering more than 5,000 pages, adds nuance to the narrative of widespread polarization across lifestyle sectors and it suggests domains in which cross-cutting preferences are still observed in American life.
KW - digital trace data
KW - Facebook likes
KW - lifestyle
KW - Polarization
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U2 - 10.1080/10584609.2021.1994066
DO - 10.1080/10584609.2021.1994066
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85120707794
SN - 1058-4609
VL - 39
SP - 311
EP - 338
JO - Political Communication
JF - Political Communication
IS - 3
ER -