ABSTRACT
To transcend the narrowly rationalistic view that has characterized existing literature, we need to develop a new theoretical foundation for understanding the relationship between social media and political life. Moving away from the Habermasian emphasis on critical-rational deliberation inherent in public sphere theories, we draw inspiration from Emile Durkheim and Randall Collins to posit that online interactions are fundamentally ritualistic in nature. As individuals gather over shared interests in digital spaces, leveraging shared symbolic resources and emotive connections, they experience a form of collective effervescence. To understand the social processes that produce online radicalization, we focus on the three intertwined effects of such online rituals: identity, emotion, and worldview. The exchanges in online communities foster a collective identity, simultaneously articulated in a discourse that delineates insiders from outsiders and serves as linguistic capital within the community. We argue that social media weave from political exchange a form of digital tribe – with a shared sense of collective self, a distinct worldview, and a potent emotional drive to engage in collective action. Through this discussion, we develop the theoretical foundation for the empirical explorations presented in Chapters 5–7.
