Description:

Throughout the Winter Quarter, the Center for Latinx Digital Media invites you to a series of weekly seminars held over Zoom on Thursdays from 12-1 PM CT. You can now register (click here) to the seminar on Thursday January 21, 2021 at 12-1 PM CT, where Professor Sebastián Valenzuela (Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile) will give a presentation entitled "From optimism to pessimism to neither: The influence of social media on democratic citizenship." 

Presentation abstract: Between 2010 and 2020, conventional wisdom on social media has changed dramatically, from being celebrated as prodemocratic platforms to being held responsible for the rise of polarization, misinformation, and populism. Contrary to utopian and dystopian perspectives, I find that the effects of social platforms on individuals’ cognitions, attitudes, and behaviors are decidedly mixed. Using surveys, experiments, and content analyses conducted in Chile, I show the value of a more nuanced approach to social media and democratic citizenship.

Sebastián Valenzuela is associate professor in the School of Communications at Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile and associate researcher with the Millennium Institute for Foundational Research on Data (IMFD). An expert in political communication and digital media, he has authored more than 50 peer-reviewed publications, including the 3rd edition of Setting the Agenda (Polity Press).

This event is co-sponsored by the Alice Kaplan Institute for the Humanities, the Buffett Institute for Global Affairs, the Center for Global Culture and Communication, and the Latin American and Caribbean Studies Program.