#3317. Contagion of offensive speech online: An interactional analysis of political swearing

September 2026publication date
Proposal available till 18-05-2025
4 total number of authors per manuscript0 $

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Journal’s subject area:
Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous);
Psychology (all);
Human-Computer Interaction;
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Abstract:
Despite their positive effects in promoting participatory politics, digital publics have also manifested an offensive vernacular culture. The research is based on a network analytic approach to explain the contagion of offensive speech in online discussion contexts. The research examines four social interactional mechanisms underlying a users adoption of political swearing: generalized reciprocity, direct reciprocity, leader-mimicry, and peer-mimicry. The research examines the effects of social interactional mechanisms on the occurrences of political swearing by analyzing five years of user comments. Findings show that peer-mimicry contributes to the contagion process the most, followed by generalized reciprocity and direct mimicry. The study demonstrates how individual-level speech behaviors spiral into a collective norm that potentially hinders a healthy discussion culture in mediated social spaces.
Keywords:
Anti-social; Contagion; Mimicry; Online incivility; Reciprocity; Swearing

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