Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Figures
- List of Tables
- Acknowledgments
- 1 COMMUNICATION, INFLUENCE, AND THE CAPACITY OF CITIZENS TO DISAGREE
- 2 NEW INFORMATION, OLD INFORMATION, AND PERSISTENT DISAGREEMENT
- 3 DYADS, NETWORKS, AND AUTOREGRESSIVE INFLUENCE
- 4 DISAGREEMENT, HETEROGENEITY, AND THE EFFECTIVENESS OF POLITICAL COMMUNICATION
- 5 DISAGREEMENT, HETEROGENEITY, AND PERSUASION: HOW DOES DISAGREEMENT SURVIVE?
- 6 AGENT-BASED EXPLANATIONS, PATTERNS OF COMMUNICATION, AND THE INEVITABILITY OF HOMOGENEITY
- 7 AGENT-BASED EXPLANATIONS, AUTOREGRESSIVE INFLUENCE, AND THE SURVIVAL OF DISAGREEMENT
- 8 HETEROGENEOUS NETWORKS AND CITIZEN CAPACITY: DISAGREEMENT, AMBIVALENCE, AND ENGAGEMENT
- 9 SUMMARY, IMPLICATIONS, AND CONCLUSION
- APPENDIX A THE INDIANAPOLIS–ST. LOUIS STUDY
- APPENDIX B THE OPINION SIMULATION SOFTWARE
- References
- Index
7 - AGENT-BASED EXPLANATIONS, AUTOREGRESSIVE INFLUENCE, AND THE SURVIVAL OF DISAGREEMENT
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 03 December 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Figures
- List of Tables
- Acknowledgments
- 1 COMMUNICATION, INFLUENCE, AND THE CAPACITY OF CITIZENS TO DISAGREE
- 2 NEW INFORMATION, OLD INFORMATION, AND PERSISTENT DISAGREEMENT
- 3 DYADS, NETWORKS, AND AUTOREGRESSIVE INFLUENCE
- 4 DISAGREEMENT, HETEROGENEITY, AND THE EFFECTIVENESS OF POLITICAL COMMUNICATION
- 5 DISAGREEMENT, HETEROGENEITY, AND PERSUASION: HOW DOES DISAGREEMENT SURVIVE?
- 6 AGENT-BASED EXPLANATIONS, PATTERNS OF COMMUNICATION, AND THE INEVITABILITY OF HOMOGENEITY
- 7 AGENT-BASED EXPLANATIONS, AUTOREGRESSIVE INFLUENCE, AND THE SURVIVAL OF DISAGREEMENT
- 8 HETEROGENEOUS NETWORKS AND CITIZEN CAPACITY: DISAGREEMENT, AMBIVALENCE, AND ENGAGEMENT
- 9 SUMMARY, IMPLICATIONS, AND CONCLUSION
- APPENDIX A THE INDIANAPOLIS–ST. LOUIS STUDY
- APPENDIX B THE OPINION SIMULATION SOFTWARE
- References
- Index
Summary
None of the previous chapter's analyses calls into question a theoretical expectation that disagreement will be short-lived among people who communicate on a regular basis. The agent-based models of dyadic, one-on-one interaction clearly lead to a conclusion that time will erase diversity among interacting agents. The present chapter modifies the design of these agent-based models to incorporate the idea that people react to new information only after they compare it against the input they receive from the other agents in their communication networks. Several startling results emerge from this simple premise of autoregressive influence. Self-organized networks develop in which agents experience diversity and respond to it in an understandable way. These networks reflect the micro-level impact of the experience that agents accumulate through a continuing series of dyadic interactions. The agents have no conscious drive to expose themselves to diversity. Rather, they simply adjust to new information in a way that conforms to their experience within networks of acquaintance – to the majority sentiment among other agents with whom they are most familiar. Perhaps surprisingly, diversity is preserved in a system that is often, but not always, stable in its response to exogenous disturbances.
The previous chapter provides scant support to those friends of democratic politics who might hope for the persistent and enduring experience of political disagreement among citizens. In every model, political homogeneity appears to be the long-run stable consequence of interaction among agents.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Political DisagreementThe Survival of Diverse Opinions within Communication Networks, pp. 151 - 179Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2004