Do Social Networks Exacerbate Apocalyptic and Christian Nationalist Politics?

• In Event: Bringing Belief Back In

Abstract

How do social networks shape apocalyptic beliefs in the American public, particularly as those beliefs intersect with religion and politics? The recent jump among scholars to study worldviews like apocalypticism or Christian nationalism, while a welcome development, has left open questions about the value of religious social organization in the production of politics. That is, we have very little information about the role of congregations and social networks in shaping or reflecting these worldviews, or about how organizations and networks might work in tandem to motivate specific political choices and behaviors. Some scholars have found that extreme worldviews drive extreme politics. But, these extreme worldviews also tend to contain explicit instructions for believers to align their social ties with their beliefs – something that implicates social ties in such a process. Using newly collected data (late Spring 2024), we examine interpersonal network items (collected via egocentric and aggregate relational data batteries) to determine whether 1) Americans have sorted their social interactions around these worldviews, and 2) whether pluralism in social ties interrupts the direct connection of these worldviews to political extremism.

Authors

• Andrew R. Lewis, University of Cincinnati

• Jacob R. Neiheisel, University at Buffalo, SUNY

• Paul A. Djupe, Denison University

• Anand Edward Sokhey, University of Colorado, Boulder