Wei, Kai
(2019)
COLLECTIVE ACTION AND SOCIAL CHANGE: HOW DO PROTESTS INFLUENCE SOCIAL MEDIA CONVERSATIONS ABOUT IMMIGRANTS?
Doctoral Dissertation, University of Pittsburgh.
(Unpublished)
Abstract
This study aims to improve our understanding of using protest as an intervention strategy to reduce online users’ prejudiced speech against immigrants by: 1) developing a reliable method to measure for online users’ prejudiced speech against immigrants; 2) examining the role of temporal and geographic exposure to protest in online users’ prejudiced speech against immigrants; and 3) examining the role of group identity in the relationship between protest and online users’ prejudiced speech against immigrants. It hypothesizes that protest would reduce online users’ prejudiced speech against immigrants. After collecting 31,210,740 tweets from 102, 094 Twitter users, machine learning techniques were leveraged into developing a reliable measurement for online users’ prejudiced speech against immigrants. Repeated measures of users’ prejudiced speech were taken in a two-week window to establish baseline before and after protest. Analyses examined group differences across different levels of geographic exposure to local protest and between users identified with different groups using analysis of variance procedures. Overall, this research did not provide evidence supporting the claim that protest can reduce online prejudiced speech. However, it was found that users expressed more prejudiced speech after protest compared to baseline before protest. This change was more pronounced among users located furthest (in geographic distance) from the cities where protests occurred. It was also more pronounced among users who did not identify with immigrants. Further research is needed to determine if these results call into question the effectiveness of protest in reducing prejudiced speech or are peculiar to social media, and if so, how these negative effects can be mitigated.
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Details
| Item Type: |
University of Pittsburgh ETD
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| Status: |
Unpublished |
| Creators/Authors: |
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| ETD Committee: |
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| Date: |
29 August 2019 |
| Date Type: |
Completion |
| Defense Date: |
23 May 2019 |
| Approval Date: |
3 September 2019 |
| Access Restriction: |
No restriction; Release the ETD for access worldwide immediately. |
| Number of Pages: |
178 |
| Institution: |
University of Pittsburgh |
| Schools and Programs: |
School of Social Work > Social Work |
| Degree: |
PhD - Doctor of Philosophy |
| Thesis Type: |
Doctoral Dissertation |
| Refereed: |
No |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: |
Social work, immigrants, protests |
| Other ID: |
weikaiangela@gmail.com |
| Date Deposited: |
03 Sep 2019 20:07 |
| Last Modified: |
22 Aug 2024 13:24 |
| URI: |
http://d-scholarship.pitt.edu/id/eprint/37409 |
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