Commissioned Book Review: C Vaccari and A Valeriani, Outside the Bubble: Social Media and Political Participation in Western Democracies
| Author | Darren G Lilleker |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/14789299221085148 |
| Published date | 01 August 2022 |
| Date | 01 August 2022 |
| Subject Matter | Commissioned Book Review |
Political Studies Review
2022, Vol. 20(3) NP3 –NP4
journals.sagepub.com/home/psrev
Commissioned Book Review
1085148PSW0010.1177/14789299221085148Political Studies ReviewCommissioned Book Review
book-review2022
Commissioned Book Review
Outside the Bubble: Social Media and
Political Participation in Western
Democracies, by C Vaccari and
A Valeriani. Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 2021. 302 pp., £64/£18.99, ISBN
9780190858476.
The impact of social media on democracy
remains contentious. Digital technologies can
facilitate deliberative and civic-minded activi-
ties but, through echo chambers and filter bub-
bles reinforcing beliefs and prejudices, can
drive anti-democratic behaviour. These ques-
tions are explored in Vaccari and Valeriani’s
research. The comparative survey research
across eight European countries and the United
States covers over a third of the world’s active
social media users, living within a range of
political and media systems. The core hypoth-
eses point to social media affordances offering
new routes to political engagement and partici-
pation based on experiences gained using these
platforms closing participation gaps between
engaged and disengaged citizens. The experi-
ential variables examined are the levels of
political agreement one is exposed to, acciden-
tal exposure to political news and to targeted
electoral mobilisation. The arguments are laid
out across two theoretical and four empirical
chapters, each starting with vignettes which set
the topics in context. Contesting the ideas of
filter bubbles, Vaccari and Valeriani argue users
can filter out political news or opposing views,
but not all will. Information cascades can over-
come individual preferences, but the danger is
they favour certain voices. Thus, the work
explores to what extent social media experi-
ences advantage extreme and populist voices as
extant research suggests. The findings are
finally tested against political and media sys-
temic variables exploring if national and con-
textual differences moderate the relationships
between social media political experiences and
political participation.
The data show echo chambers are not preva-
lent, only 15% see one-sided supportive content
online compared to 32% offline. The most
active and engaged users carve out echo cham-
bers, a minority of those surveyed. Equally,
only 14% have no experience of accidental
exposure to political news and nearly one-third
recall receiving mobilisation messages. All
these variables impact participation: experienc-
ing accidental exposure and being mobilised
increases participation, especially among those
least engaged and attentive during elections.
The research also suggests there is a cycle of
engagement and exposure. Exposure leads to
engagement, but greater engagement leads to
further exposure especially on Facebook where
algorithms deliver content that appears relevant
based on previous behaviour. Hence, social
media is found beneficial for closing engage-
ment gaps across different social groups.
Experiencing one-sided arguments further
boosts participation, suggesting echo chambers
support engagement. This may be problematic
if a well-informed, pluralist debate is seen as
central to democratic life. Fears voters who sup-
port populist or ideological extreme parties
receive a participatory boost are falsified. These
users are already highly engaged; the participa-
tory boost is among voters who self-define as
centrist. Hence, political experiences on social
media adhere to the ‘rising tide’ model, lifting
all political boats, the least ideologically
extreme being lifted to a greater extent among
those least interested and attentive. Systemic
factors have a little impact, suggesting social
media platforms offer universal affordances.
However, context may matter. If politics is con-
tentious, it may drive engagement on social
media and trigger a cycle of increased engage-
ment and exposure.
The work is important but cannot resolve
the many controversies. Participatory forms
included in the survey cover six high-effort
forms of electoral participation excluding vot-
ing; a wider menu of options encompassing
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