Unintended Politics: Opinion Expression and Incivility in Incidental Political Discussion

Abstract

While substantial research has focused on how political talk can reinforce or undermine democratic norms, relatively little attention has been paid to the role of incidental political discussion in everyday, nonpolitical contexts. Embedded within contexts of shared, nonpartisan identities or preexisting social relationships, existing theory suggests that incidental political discussion will include less political opinion and uncivil expression than purposive political discussion. Analyses of nearly three thousand comments on mass shootings and gun control across both political and nonpolitical communities on Reddit show that, contrary to expectations, incidental political discussions are more likely than purposive political discussions to contain expressions of policy opinion. Additionally, the level of incivility does not differ between the two kinds of discussions.