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A Scoping Review on the Relationship Between Political Ideology and Online Hatred

Vladimir Bojarskich, University of Jena; Tobias Rothmund, University of Jena

Devaluing, insulting, and intimidating expressions directed against marginalized and political outgroups are ubiquitous on social media. Explanations to who and why frequently point either to a conservative bias or worldview conflict. On the one hand, people with a more conservative/traditional compared to a liberal/progressive ideology are more likely to express prejudice towards outgroups. On the other hand, conservatives and progressives are both likely to express prejudice towards outgroups the more dissimilar they and their values are to their own. However, while there is vast research on how prejudiced attitudes link to ideology, research on how ideology links to actual online expressions of prejudice and hatred is conceptually and methodologically fragmented. A better understanding of what research on the ideology-hate link does and does not do can inform theoretical debates on the root causes of prejudice as well as online interventions that tackle either ideological biases, polarization, or an aggregate of both. Therefore, our aim with this review was to map out the concepts and methods of research on political ideology and online hate. We systematically reviewed quantitative studies published from 2008 to early 2022 that assessed people's political ideology/affiliation and how they evaluated or engaged in hateful or uncivil talk online. We report findings on how political ideology was measured, what concepts of online hate were used, and whether the state of research is actually able to address the conservative bias vs worldview conflict explanations. We end with recommendations for future research.

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