The Consequences of Cross-Cutting Networks for Political Participation

“…political discussion at work, involving cross-cutting discourse more often than in any other context (Brundidge, 2010; McCall and Manza, 2011; Mutz, 2002; Mutz and Mondak, 2006; Wasburn and Adkins Covert, 2017), fosters people’s interest in and understanding of politics, resulting in higher…”

“People with more diverse social networks have bene fi cial outcomes including exposure to more varied viewpoints (Mutz, 2002), re fl ection on the new information and counterarguments (Hardy & Scheufele, 2005), and less polarized attitudes toward the out-group (Lyons & Sokhey, 2017).”

“…are not aligned with their partisan identities in conventional ways, e.g., secular Republicans or evangelical Democrats) experience what political scientists call “cross-pressures” and they tend to be less polarized and less politically engaged (Baker and Marti 2020; Djupe et al. 2023; Mutz 2002).”

“Political deliberation can also, for example, increase participation (Mutz, 2002; Quintelier, 2015) and foster mutual understanding (Miklikowska et al., 2022; Mutz, 2006).”

“…et al., 2014), it also raises concerns about the effects of group homogeneity, such as the propensity to receive and process information within ideological echo chambers (Hobolt et al., 2024), which may ultimately foster intolerance towards differing views and increase polarization (Mutz, 2002).”

“Before this decision, we measured the key variables of the TPB.”

“Ayrıca çalışan bireylerin, çalışmayan ya da işsiz bireylere göre katılım oranlarının daha yüksek olduğunu tespit edilmiştir (Brady, Verba & Schlozman, 1995; Mutz, 2002).”

“Interactions in settings like workplaces (Mutz & Mondak, 2006), neighborhoods (McClurg, 2006), or broader social networks (Mutz, 2002a; Zuckerman, 2005) could help immigrants adapt to Western notions of left and right.”

“Unlike perceived network homogeneity which is arguably an enabler of political activity (Mutz, 2002), thinking about the perceived consequences of one’s Twitter/X activity could function as an impediment to both offline and Twitter/X-based political activity.”

“This difference likely is attributable to their greater psychological openness — a trait that enables them to express their views more freely and engage in political discussions even in contexts in which their opinions may be in the minority (Gerber et al. 2010; Mutz 2002).”

“…case of the United States, the significant influence of bonding online social capital on political participation can be attributed to the tendency of Americans to participate in political activities on the basis of communities with which they have maintained continued relationships (Mutz, 2002).”

“This nuanced ambivalence, while potentially discouraging, can lead to more openness and balanced views, less reliant on past beliefs (Green, Visser, and Tetlock 2000; Mutz 2002).”

“…awareness of the ideological positions of others (Mutz, 2006), increases political tolerance among citizens of disparate ideologies and thoughts (Mutz, 2002, 2006; Pattie & Johnston, 2008) and enables debate of public issues in order to reach agreements in the general interest (Mutz & Young,…”

“…and disagreement are desirable for a healthy democracy (Berelson, 1952), as listening to viewpoints other than our own facilitates intergroup dialog and fosters tolerance toward different political ideas and identities (Mutz, 2002) as well as opposing reasoning and arguments (Price et al., 2002).”

“Accordingly, these individuals with diverse exposure are expected to become well-informed on politics and be capable of deliberating on alternative viewpoints (Lee, Kwak, & Campbell, 2015; Mutz, 2002a; Stroud, 2011).”

“more politically homogenous than their general social discussion network due to political conflict avoidance on the part of citizens (Mutz, 2002).”

“…both effective at creating change (Chenoweth & Stephan 2011; Levine 2018, Young 2001) and mobilizing (Huddy et al. 2015; Iyengar & Krupenkin 2018; Mutz 2002), suggesting that this model of engagement is useful for democratic empowerment and appealing to many who hope to find agency in democratic…”

“This withdrawal manifests itself in significantly lower turnout (Mutz 2002).”

“Partaking in political discussion can lessen partisan biases (Beck 2002; Lupton, Singh, and Thornton 2015), increase other forms of political participation (Klofstad 2007; McClurg 2003; but see Mutz 2002b), and foster political tolerance (Mutz 2002a; Pattie and Johnston 2008).”

“Social networks and their implications have been a longstanding topic of interest among communication scholars (Hargittai, 2007; McDermott, 1980; Mutz, 2002; Rogers & Kincaid, 1981; Valenzuela, Park, & Kee, 2009).”

“Also, conceptually, researchers are generally interested in the differences between levels of income rather than in its unitary nature (Moore and Welniak, 2000; Córdova, 2009).”

“One outcome of experiencing a diverse set of political messages is the generation of ambivalence (see McClurg, 2006; Mutz, 2002).”

“Mutz (2002b) conducted a survey noting the frequency in which people talk politics with up to three other people and the level of political disagreement within these discussions.”

“The comparative nature of leader evaluations matters especially when one candidate is judged better than another, while neutral assessments do not display any direct influence on voting choice (Lavine, 2001; Mutz, 2002).”

“However, they do hold information on how different groups of people are integrated and socialized into the political process at the local scale (Huckfeldt and Sprague 1992; Mutz 2002).”

“…to political disagreements via the media and cross-cutting interpersonal social networks might increase political disaffection (McClurg, 2006; Mutz, 2002), a corollary concern not satisfactorily addressed by current studies is whether conflict avoidance tendencies may also inhibit one from…”

“Second, older neighborhoods might also contain accumulated social networks and organizations which facilitate civic and political activity (Huckfeldt and Sprague 1995; Leyden 2003; but see Mutz 2002 ), whereas recently built neighborhoods must construct these networks from scratch (McGirr 2001).”

“For example, many studies report that political discussion in one’s social network can reduce participation (McClurg 2006; Mutz 2002a; Mutz and Mondak 2006).”

“…can occur even if the partisan- 3Other researchers have identified contextual effects not necessarily related to a life change, such as social network induced ambivalence (Huckfeldt, Mendez and Osborn 2004), conflict avoidance (Mutz 2002), and gradual conformity in a neighborhood (Lyons 2011).”

“…the exploration suggests that social networks facilitate the effects of internal political efficacy on public deliberation involvement, corresponding with Mutz (2002), social networks may well be detrimental to the effects of people’s external political efficacy on public deliberation involvement.”

“A more recent study (Lupton and Thornton 2017) also defines disagreement as having ties with discussants who voted for a different presidential candidate.”

“She also finds that individuals embedded within heterogeneous social networks tend to hold more ambivalent attitudes and tend to form their candidate preferences later in the campaign than do individuals within homogeneous networks (Mutz 2002).”

“…sense that this type of media use may lead to attitude polarization, which refers to “the strengthening of one’s original position or attitude” (Stroud, 2010, p. 557) and is considered to be less tolerant of people who have different positions on controversial social issues (Mutz, 2002a, 2002b).”

“This distinguishes the present account from classic work on cross-pressures, which locate the source of tension in competing group memberships (Berelson et al. 1954) or heterogeneous social networks (Mutz 2002).”

“Some level of political polarization is also binged considered as useful to the democratic society: give these voters with pure options, as well as stimulates political interactions (Mutz, 2002).”

“Cross-cutting social networks are associated with increased political knowledge (Mutz, 2002b), political tolerance (Sumaktoyo, 2021), and reduced partisanship (Lupton et al., 2015).”

“…citizens take part less in confrontational forms of participation such as protest, campaigning, and contentious discussion, though their turnout is not significantly lower [15], and exposure to differing political views within one’s own network is associated with lower participation [16].”

“This is in line with studies showing that group homogeneity matters: turnout tends to be higher when voters are surrounded by people that are similar to them (Bhatti, Danckert, and Hansen 2017; Mutz 2002).”

“Constructive cross-cutting political talk can increase understanding of issues (Wojcieszak and Price 2012) and other people’s perspectives (Mutz 2006 ), lead to more political tolerance (Mutz 2002), and reduce affective polarization (Levendusky and Stecula 2021 ; Wojcieszak and Warner 2020).”

“…on the effects of cross-cutting exposure on participation, the evidence varies from suppressing the likelihood to vote (or demobilization effect, Mutz, 2002b; Shi, 2016), to no discernible effect of this kind (Huckfeldt et al., 2004), to facilitating political participation (e.g., Scheufele et…”

“Exposure to diverse viewpoints, even within polarized media environments, can also enhance political sophistication and foster political tolerance (Mutz 2002; Prince et al., 2002).”