| 1. |
- Andersson, Claes, 1973, et al.
(författare)
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An evolutionary developmental approach to cultural evolution
- 2014
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Ingår i: Current Anthropology. - : University of Chicago Press. - 0011-3204 .- 1537-5382. ; 55:2, s. 154-174
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Evolutionary developmental theories in biology see the processes and organization of organisms as crucial for understanding the dynamic behavior of organic evolution. Darwinian forces are seen as necessary but not sufficient for explaining observed evolutionary patterns. We here propose that the same arguments apply with even greater force to culture vis-à-vis cultural evolution. In order not to argue entirely in the abstract, we demonstrate the proposed approach by combining a set of different models into a provisional synthetic theory, and by applying this theory to a number of short case studies. What emerges is a set of concepts and models that allow us to consider entirely new types of explanations for the evolution of cultures. For example we see how feedback relations - both within societies and between societies and their ecological environment - have the power to shape evolutionary history in profound ways. The ambition here is not to produce a definite statement on what such a theory should look like but rather to propose a starting point along with an argumentation and demonstration of its potential.
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| 2. |
- Andersson, Claes, 1973, et al.
(författare)
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Developing of the future: scaffolded Darwinism in societal evolution
- 2014
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Ingår i: Behavioral and Brain Sciences. - 0140-525X .- 1469-1825. ; 37:4, s. 417-418
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We sympathize with the project of a synthetic approach for devising a "theory of intentional change" and agree that Darwinism should be central in such a theory. But Darwinism is not the only process of evolution that needs to be included. Evolutionary biology itself has taken such a turn recently, with the emergence of developmental evolutionary approaches.
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| 3. |
- Andersson, Claes, 1973, et al.
(författare)
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Societal Systems - Complex or worse?
- 2014
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Ingår i: Futures : The journal of policy, planning and futures studies. - : Elsevier BV. - 0016-3287. ; 63, s. 145-157
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The basic observation that we explore in this paper is simple but, we argue, rich in consequences: societal systems combine two qualities that are commonly referred to as complexity and complicatedness. We address the problem that societal systems remain recalcitrant despite the development of powerful approaches for dealing with both of these qualities. The root of this problem we identify to be that the combination between complexity and complicatedness is emergent; i.e. fundamentally and irreducibly different from either quality in isolation. This means that neither class of such approaches can be expected to work well on their own. But it also means that the obvious strategy of combining theory for complexity and complicatedness may be much more challenging than envisioned. In short, systems where complexity and complicatedness is mixed ought to be treated as a distinct class of systems. Noting a connection to what has long been called "wicked problems" we hereby outline such a class of systems that we call "wicked systems". We introduce a simple model and heuristic and discuss some implications for theorizing and modeling.
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| 4. |
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| 5. |
- Törnberg, Anton, 1985, et al.
(författare)
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Combining CDA and topic modeling: Analyzing discursive connections between Islamophobia and anti-feminism on an online forum
- 2016
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Ingår i: Discourse & Society. - : SAGE Publications. - 0957-9265 .- 1460-3624. ; 27:4, s. 401-422
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In this article we present an analysis of the discursive connections between Islamophobia and anti-feminism on a large Internet forum. We argue that the incipient shift from traditional media toward user-driven social media brings with it new media dynamics, relocating the (re)production of societal discourses and power structures and thus bringing about new ways in which discursive power is exercised. This clearly motivates the need to critically engage this field. Our research is based on the analysis of a corpus consisting of over 50 million posts, collected from the forum using custom web crawlers. In order to approach this vast material of unstructured text, we suggest a novel methodological synergy combining critical discourse analysis (CDA) and topic modeling – a type of statistical model for the automated categorization of large quantities of texts developed in computer science. By rendering an overview or ‘content map’ of the corpus, topic modeling provides an enriching complement to CDA, aiding discovery and adding analytical rigor.
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| 6. |
- Törnberg, Anton, 1985, et al.
(författare)
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Intimate Communities of Hate. Why Social Media Fuels Far-Right Extremism
- 2024
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Bok (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Social media has fundamentally transformed political life, driving a surge in far-right extremism. In recent years, radical anti-democratic ideologies have entered into the political mainstream, fueled by energy from extreme online environments. But why do far-right extremist movements seem to thrive so well on social media platforms? What takes place within the fringe online spaces that seem to function as incubators for violent extremists? To answer these questions, this book goes inside the “murder capital of the racist Internet”, examining 20 years of conversations on Stormfront.org. Using a combination of computational text analysis and close reading, we seek a deeper understanding of the emotional and social effects of being part of an extremist community. We lay the foundation of a new way of understanding online extremism, building on the tradition of Émile Durkheim and Randall Collins. We find that online radicalization is not merely an effect of repeated one-sided arguments, as suggested by metaphors such as “echo chambers”. Instead, social media politics can be better understood through Durkheim’s concept of rituals: moments of shared attention and emotion that create emotional energy and a sense of intersubjectivity, weaving from participants a political tribe – united, energized, and poised to act.
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| 7. |
- Törnberg, Anton, 1985, et al.
(författare)
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Modelling free social spaces and the diffusion of social mobilization
- 2017
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Ingår i: Social Movement Studies. - : Informa UK Limited. - 1474-2829 .- 1474-2837. ; 16:2, s. 182-202
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Free social spaces have long been emphasized in the social movement literature. Under names such as safe spaces, social havens, and counterpublics, they have been characterized as protective shelters against prevailing hegemonic ideologies and as hubs for the diffusion of ideas and ideologies. However, the vast literature on these spaces has predominantly focused on internal dynamics and processes, thus neglecting how they relate to the diffusion of collective mobilization. Inspired by formal modeling in collective action research, we develop a network model to investigate how the structural properties of free social spaces impact the diffusion of collective mobilization. Our results show that the assumption of clustering is enough for structural effects to emerge, and that clustering furthermore interacts synergistically with political deviance. This indicates that it is not only internal dynamics that play a role in the relevance of free social spaces for collective action. Our approach also illustrates how formal modeling can deepen our understanding of diffusion processes in collective mobilizations through analysis of emergent structural effects.
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| 8. |
- Törnberg, Anton, 1985, et al.
(författare)
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Muslims in social media discourse: Combining topic modeling and critical discourse analysis : Muslims in social media discourse
- 2016
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Ingår i: Discourse, Context & Media. - : Elsevier BV. - 2211-6958. ; 13:September 2016, s. 132-142
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This article combines topic modeling and critical discourse analysis to examine patterns of representation around the words Muslim and Islam in a 105 million word corpus of a large Swedish Internet forum from 2000 to 2013. Despite the increased importance of social media in the (re)production of discursive power in society, this is the first study of its kind. The analysis shows that Muslims are portrayed in the forum as a homogeneous outgroup that is embroiled in conflict, violence and extremism: characteristics that are described as emanating from Islam as a religion. These patterns are strikingly similar to – but often more extreme versions of – those previously found in analysis of traditional media. This indicates that, in this case, the internet forum seems to serve as an “online amplifier” that reflects and reinforces existing discourses in traditional media, which is likely to result in even stronger polarizing effects on public discourses.
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| 9. |
- Törnberg, Anton, 1985, et al.
(författare)
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White supremacists anonymous: how digital media emotionally energize far-right movements
- 2023
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Ingår i: Journal of Information Technology and Politics. - 1933-1681 .- 1933-169X. ; In Press
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Digital media platforms have been implicated in the recent rise of far-right extremism. This study proposes that these platforms afford emotional processes that lie at the core of far-right movements. Drawing on Randall Collins’ interactional framework and the literature on cultural trauma, we investigate the emotional processes triggered by traumatic experiences within far-right online communities. As a case, we examine how the white supremacist community Stormfront responded to the 2008 election of Barack Obama, by analyzing the complete datasets of discussion on the forum through a combination of computational methods and qualitative analysis. Our findings suggest that the community functioned as a “emotional refuge”, where members collectively interpreted and transformed their emotional reactions, thereby shaping an emotionally energized collective with a focused target of collective action.
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| 10. |
- Törnberg, Petter, 1987, et al.
(författare)
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Inside a White Power echo chamber: Why fringe digital spaces are polarizing politics
- 2022
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Ingår i: New Media and Society. - : SAGE Publications. - 1461-4448 .- 1461-7315.
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Recent decades have seen a blurring of the line between extremist movements and mainstream politics, driven by rising sectarian polarization. This development has been linked to digital media, with suggestions that so-called echo chambers may drive political radicalization. To understand the social processes taking place inside such digital spaces, this article draws on Randall Collins and the Durkheimian tradition to develop a theory of discursive community formation. Empirically, we analyze 20years of discussion on the White Power forum Stormfront, employing natural language processing to study discursive evolution as members become socialized into the community. Our findings suggest that digital media provide space for conversational rituals that instill in people a sense of social membership and intersubjectivity, contained in the elaboration of a shared discourse, within which certain beliefs become sacred and unquestionable. This provides a potential social mechanism linking echo chambers to the rise of sectarian polarization.
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