Political Expression

Neta Kligler-Vilenchik, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel
neta.kv@mail.huji.ac.il

Political expression is a relatively young term in political communication research, one that has emerged alongside the rise of social media. Previous terms, like political debate or political dialogue, were not well-suited to capture the nature of expression on social media, where sometimes an opinion is stated without anyone responding to it or dialoguing with it, and where even a comment on an expression does not always constitute a form of discussion or dialogue. The definitions of political expression vary in the level of specificity on which they focus, with some focusing on expressing a specific opinion on current events or political processes; while others look more generally at behaviors that involve communicating one’s political views, beliefs, or identities. Scholars also vary in what they see as political expression, including: on social media, these can include posts and videos, but also comments; some also see likes, shares, or reactions as potential forms of political expression. An additional distinction involves the individual versus collective aspects of political expression. Some work focuses on political expression as an intrapersonal communication process, occurring between the speaker and themselves. In this view, political expression does not require an interaction between social actors or assumes that others will speak back. Other scholars focus more on the collective dimensions, or on collective political expression, seeing it as a process that is social in nature. In this view, collective political expression involves speaking to an imagined audience and adding one’s voice to an existing conversation, often by making use of shared symbolic resources. Finally, different platforms may shape the dynamics of political expression in different ways, which can be understood as the interaction between platforms’ norms, affordances, and contents.

Keywords: expression, platform affordances, dialogue, political participation

Related Entries: Affordances/Affordance Theory, Opinion, Politicisation

References:
Kligler-Vilenchik, N., & Literat, I. (2019). Youth collective political expression on social media: The role of affordances and memetic dimensions for voicing political views. New Media & Society, 21(9), 1988-2009. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444819837571
Kligler-Vilenchik, N., & Literat, I. (2024). Not your parents’ politics: Understanding youth political expression on social media. Oxford University Press.
Lane, D.S., Do, K., & Molina-Rogers, N. (2021). What is political expression on social media anyway?: A systematic review. Journal of Information Technology & Politics, 19(3), 331-345. https://doi.org/10.1080/19331681.2021.1985031
Velasquez, A., & Rojas, H. (2017). Political expression on social media: The role of communication competence and expected outcomes. Social Media + Society, 3(1), 1-11. https://doi.org/10.1177/2056305117696521