• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.22 no.8
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• pp.1-13
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• 2022

This study examined the interactive effects of selective exposure, political orientation, and political interest on YouTube political video users' attitude polarization. The results are presented as follows. In relation to research question 1 and 2, attitude polarization toward selective exposure and political orientation, selective exposure and political interest of YouTube political video users was examined. As a result, in the same selective exposure, the main effect on attitude polarization 'I' was found. Therefore, it was found that the higher the selective exposure of YouTube users to political videos, the stronger the attitude polarization toward YouTube users themselves. In relation to research question 3, attitude polarization toward political orientation and political interest of YouTube political video users was examined. As a result, the interaction effect on the attitude polarization 'I' was found in the political orientation and political interest. Therefore, when political interest in both progressive and conservative tendencies is high, the attitude polarization toward YouTube users themselves is also strengthened.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.261-272
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• 2022

This study investigated the relationship between selective exposure, attitude polarization, and online political participation among 420 YouTube political video users. Additionally, the mediating effect of attitude polarization on the relationship between selective exposure and online political participation was examined. The main results were derived by conducting exploratory factor analysis, correlation analysis, and structural model analysis using the SPSS 21.0 program and AMOS 21.0 program. The results were presented as follows. First, selective exposure had a positive effect on attitude polarization. Second, selective exposure had a positive effect on online political participation. Third, attitude polarization had a positive effect on online political participation. Fourth, attitude polarization was found to mediate the relationship between selective exposure and online political participation. In summary, it was confirmed that selective exposure to YouTube political videos increased attitude polarization and online political participation, and the more the attitude polarization was strengthened by selective exposure, the more it led to online political participation.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.157-169
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• 2021

YouTube has rapidly grown as a news media outlet. As political content without fact-checking is actively provided and YouTube algorithms are used for content recommendations, users are selectively exposed to certain political ideologies, which could escalate conflicts among political groups. In particular, the stronger the identification of in-group, the greater the antipathy toward outgroup, and the more exposed the content to the parties that support or oppose it, the stronger the identification or the antipathy can be. This study investigated the relationship between selective exposure and political attitude polarization in the context of political video on YouTube. Based on social identity theory, this study also found that political identification mediates the relationship between selective exposure and political attitude polarization.

• Asian Journal for Public Opinion Research
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.85-106
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• 2021

What is the basis of the political polarization in Thailand? What are the key differences between the opposing camps? This paper aims to answer these questions at the individual level, using a national survey conducted by the authors between July and August 2017. The paper argues that the color-based polarizations in Thailand are significant and deeply rooted in a complicated array of demographic, attitudinal, and political dimensions. That is, despite their relative differences in demographics and socioeconomic status, the Yellow Shirt and Red Shirt supporters differ in party identification and democratic values. This finding indicates that the struggle between the conflicting groups in this country is not just about competing interests, but about the identities and basic values underlying the "rules of the political game."

• Asian Journal for Public Opinion Research
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.105-125
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• 2020

The purpose of this paper is to analyze 1) who created and distributed fake news, 2) the distribution channels of fake news, 3) who fake news has targeted, and 4) the effects on voting and the impact of fake news on Korean politics. In South Korea, fake news was mainly created by candidates or election campaigns. The reason is that in the wake of the impeachment of President Park Guen Hye, all the political parties in Korea used fake news as a means of mobilizing supporters for each of their candidates or parties to gain an advantage in situations involving political divisions and confrontations between the pro-impeachment, progressive young generation and anti-impeachment, conservative senior generation. Voters' media usage patterns were polarized through social network services (SNS) media and television. Fake news was mostly received through these two media outlets. According to the spreading structure of fake news in Korea, the younger generation generally uses SNS posts intended for unspecified individuals, and the older generation uses closed SNS like KakaoTalk or Naver's BAND. In the end, it is typically characteristic of the older generation to spread fake news through existing offline human networks. In the 2017 presidential election, fake news has been confirmed to have the effect of mobilizing supporters for each political party. In the presidential election, an increase in voter turnout was confirmed among those in their 20s and those in their 60s or older. Evidently, fake news influenced the election of Moon Jae-In. The influence of fake news is expected to grow further as ideological polarization and consequent political polarization continues to intensify in South Korea.

• Korean Journal of Culture and Social Issue
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.87-108
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• 2013

With questionnaires conducted for 613 adult Koreans in Seoul, the present study examined how their social features (income level, political party identification, political values, values of capitalism and egalitarianism) exercise influence on attitudes toward income polarization and their evaluation of government policies. Two groups of participants (high vs. low) for each social feature were formed first. Then their attitudes toward income polarization (liberal vs. conservative) and evaluations of policies (liberal vs. conservative) exercised by government (Participatory vs. Practical) were compared. Results indicated that liberal value was strengthened by liberal value, anti-capitalistic, and conservative value was strengthened by egalitarian values, and party identification. It was also found that party identification partial effect on the judgment of policies exercised by Participatory Government. These findings were discussed in terms of their implications for Korean society and measures for communication constructive for settlement of income polarization were suggested.

• Asian Journal for Public Opinion Research
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.207-225
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• 2019

Despite a vast amount of research on the relationship between personality traits and political attitudes, little is known about the effects of personality on individuals' support for the political system of their own country. Using three nationally representative datasets from South Korea, the present study shows that the personality dimensions - particularly, Agreeableness - are positively associated with political support, which encompasses confidence in the presidency, confidence in the government, and national pride. These findings suggest that two facets of Agreeableness - trust and compliance - are activated in expressing individuals' support for their political system. Thus, mobilizing citizens who score high on Agreeableness is essential to maintain political stability and legitimacy, but such a task appears to be difficult, given that ideological polarization discourages them from being politically active due to their propensity to conflict avoidance.

• Korean Journal of Legislative Studies
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.45-78
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• 2019

This study examines the relationship between individuals' perceptions on party conflict and affective polarization. It pays particular attention to party identification as a moderating variable. Using a survey conducted in the context of the 2014 Korean local election, the present study hypothesizes that perceiving serious inter-party conflict in the political arena is likely to increase negative feelings toward out-group political party among partisans only. Not only do the results confirm our hypothesis but suggest that conflict perception leads to affective polarization among partisan voters. This paper contributes to our understanding of the mechanism that links the attribution of blame to out-group political party for legislative gridlock with ever-growing affective polarization of the electorate.

• Informatization Policy
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.19-35
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• 2021

The purpose of this research is to investigate the attributes of the online world and to analyze their influence on democracy. The research focuses on the mayoral by-elections that were held in Seoul and Busan, South Korea, on April 4, 2021. The study demonstrates the characteristics of online spaces and the polarization of the online public through news articles and user comments from the Internet. The research includes topic modeling to measure the diversity of media reports, sentiment analysis to measure online public opinion, and interrupted time series analysis to understand how a particular event influences online attitudes. A combination of these methods is used to attempt to estimate the strength of political polarity in the online environment. The study shows diverse media reports by election region and candidate, where the online public repeatedly reveals high negative and low positive attitudes towards each candidate. Moreover, political polarity can differ based on the level of interest in an election. Although voters pay less attention to a by-election than a presidential election, there is a solid political polarity in the online world. Hence, the research recommends preparing measures to alleviate the polarization as politics requires significant online participation.

• Journal of Public Diplomacy
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.49-74
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• 2021

In this paper, I applied grounded theory in exploring how Twitter became the battlefield for China's public diplomacy campaign. China's new move to global social media platforms, such as Twitter and Facebook, has been a controversial strategy in public diplomacy. This study analyzes Chinese Foreign Spokesperson Zhao Lijian's Twitter posts and comments. It models China's recent diplomatic move to Twitter as a "war of words" model, with features including "leadership," "polarization," and "aggression," while exerting possible effects as "resistance," "hatred," and "sarcasm" to the global community. Our findings show that by failing to gage public opinion and promote the country's positive image, China's current digital diplomacy strategy reflected by Zhao Lijian's tweets has instead constructed a polarized political public sphere, contradictory to the country's promoted "shared human destiny." The "war of words" model extends our understanding of China's new digital diplomacy move as a hybrid of state propaganda and self-performance. Such a strategy could spread hate speech and accelerate political polarization in cyberspace, despite improvements to China's homogenous network building on Twitter.