Coordinator: Marko M. Skoric
Members: Tetsuro Kobayashi, Liang Limin, Lin Fen, & Chris Fei Shen
Keywords: digital politics, civic engagement, political participation, polarization, social movements, collective action, identity politics, youth engagement, media institutions, journalism
Introduction: We examine the civic, political and cultural implications of media contents, platforms, and uses. The Cluster members focus on a range of topics, including media effects on public opinion, the role of emerging technologies in citizen engagement, election campaigning, sociology of news, and the analyses of political discourse and culture. There are six faculty and thirteen student members of the Cluster, who organize research seminars and guests lectures and engage in collaborative research. In recent years, the Cluster faculty have obtained more than half a dozen external research grants from different governmental organizations and the industry. The faculty are also involved in a number of international research collaborations and have initiated and organized a range of academic workshops and conferences in Asia, Europe and the United States.
Dr. Tetsuro Kobayashi studies political communication and public opinion in East Asian countries. With the background of social psychology, he employs different types of experimental methodologies as well as conventional surveys.
Selected publications:
Kobayashi, T., Miura, A., Madrid-Morales, D., & Shimizu, H. (2021). Why are politically active people avoided in countries with collectivistic culture? A cross-cultural experiment. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology. 52(4), 388–405.
Kobayashi, T., Song, J., & Chan, P. (2021). Does repression undermine opposition demands? The case of the Hong Kong National Security Law. Japanese Journal of Political Science.
https://doi.org/10.1017/S1468109921000256
Kobayashi, T., Taka, F., & Suzuki, T. (2021). Can “Googling” correct misbelief? Cognitive and affective consequences of online search. PLoS ONE, 16(9), e0256575.
Limin Liang’s research interests are with the social organization and cultural studies of journalism and new media. Her recent research involves the study of media events and media rituals in the changing global information ecology, particularly contentious court-related social dramas and their implications for symbolic politics and authoritarian deliberation. She also does research on the interstice between material culture and new media culture, and how new technologies reshape the boundaries between information and entertainment.
Selected publications:
Liang, L. (Forthcoming). Consuming the pastoral desire: Li Ziqi, food vlogging and the structure of feeling in the era of microcelebrity. Global Storytelling: Journal of Digital and Moving Images, 1(2).
Liang, L. (2021). Between emotion, politics and law: Narrative transformation and authoritarian deliberation in a land-dispute-triggered social drama in China. The China Quarterly, 245, 94–121.
Liang, L. (2019). Crafting resonance in a sports media event: The Olympic Games as a transnational social drama. Journalism Studies, 20(3) 401–422.
Dr. Fen Lin's research interest include the evolution and transformation of the relationship between the state, the media and the courts, and their impacts on the political regime. She is also studying the role of media in constructing public opinion and shaping social movements.
Selected publications:
Yang, C. & Lin, F. (Forthcoming). Fluid social construction of justice: Transition of trial-based media events (2000-2016). Communication & Society. (流动的正义建构：中国案件型媒体事件的演变（2000–2016）《传播与社会学刊》)
Han, X., & Lin, F. (2021). Perceptions of the media's role and job satisfaction: a survey of journalists in Xinjiang. Asian Journal of Communication, 31(4), 254–275.
Ding, C. & Lin, F. (2021). Information authoritarianism vs. information anarchy: A comparison of information ecosystems in Mainland China and Hong Kong during the early stage of the COVID-19 pandemic. China Review, 21(1), 91–105.
Lin, F. (2020). Authoritarian transparency: A comparative survey on open government information regulations in China. In Xiaowei Zang and Hon Chan (eds.) Handbook of Public Policy and Public Administration in China. Cheltenham: Elgar. (p.205–220).
Dr. Fei Shen ('Chris') is a keen observer of the social and political impacts of new media technologies. His empirical work examines how people make use of new media technologies in different settings and how the internet helps reshape people's behavior and redistribute power in societies, in particular, in authoritarian regimes.
Selected publications:
Dai, Y., Yu, W., & Shen, F. (2021). The effects of message order and debiasing Information in misinformation correction. International Journal of Communication, 15, 1309–1059.
Shen, F., & Wang, T. (2021). Grumpy consumers, good citizens? Exploring the relationship among internet use, online consumer behavior, and civic participation in China. International Journal of Communication, 15, 862–885.
Eveland Jr, W. P., & Shen, F. (2021). Cross-national variation in political network size, distribution, and prediction. Social Networks, 66, 100–113.
Dr. Marko M. Skoric’s research interests are focused on new media and social change, with a particular emphasis on the civic and political implications of digital technologies. He also studies the emerging forms of environmental engagement and grassroots sustainability initiatives in Asia.
Selected publications:
Skoric, M. M., Zhu, Q., Koc-Michalska, K., Boulianne, S., & Bimber, B. (2021). Selective avoidance on social media: A comparative study of Western democracies. Social Science Computer Review.
https://doi.org/10.1177/08944393211005468
Zhu, Q., & Skoric, M. M. (2021). Political implications of disconnection on social media: A study of politically motivated unfriending. New Media & Society.
https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444821999994
Skoric, M. M., & Zhang, N. (2019). Opinion leadership, media use, and environmental engagement in China. International Journal of Communication. 13, 4602–4623.
