Books by Sarah Sobieraj
Oxford University Press, 2020
Greta Thunberg. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Anita Sarkeesian. Emma Gonzalez. When women are vocal a... more Greta Thunberg. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Anita Sarkeesian. Emma Gonzalez. When women are vocal about political and social issues, too-often they are flogged with attacks via social networking sites, comment sections, discussion boards, email, and direct message. Rather than targeting their ideas, the abuse targets their identities, pummeling them with rape threats, attacks on their appearance and presumed sexual behavior, and a cacophony of misogynistic, racist, xenophobic, and homophobic stereotypes and epithets. Like street harassment and sexual harassment in the workplace, digital harassment rejects women's implicit claims to be taken seriously as interlocutors, colleagues, and peers.
Sarah Sobieraj shows that this online abuse is more than interpersonal bullying--it is a visceral response to the threat of equality in digital conversations and arenas that men would prefer to control. Thus identity-based attacks are particularly severe for those women who are seen as most out of line, such as those from racial, ethnic, and religious minority groups or who work in domains dominated by men, such as gaming, technology, politics, and sports. Feminists and women who don't conform to traditional gender norms are also frequently targeted.
Drawing on interviews with over fifty women who have been on the receiving end of identity-based abuse online, Credible Threat explains why all of us should be concerned about the hostile climate women navigate online. This toxicity comes with economic, professional, and psychological costs for those targeted, but it also exacts societal-level costs that are rarely recognized: it erodes our civil liberties, diminishes our public discourse, thins the knowledge available to inform policy and electoral decision-making, and teaches all women that activism and public service are unappealing, high-risk endeavors to be avoided. Sobieraj traces these underexplored effects, showing that when identity-based attacks succeed in constraining women's use of digital publics, there are democratic consequences that cannot be ignored.
Routledge, 2019
The state of political discourse in the United States today has been a subject of concern for man... more The state of political discourse in the United States today has been a subject of concern for many Americans. Political incivility is not merely a problem for political elites; political conversations between American citizens have also become more difficult and tense. The 2016 presidential elections featured campaign rhetoric designed to inflame the general public. Yet the 2016 election was certainly not the only cause of incivility among citizens. There have been many instances in recent years where reasoned discourse in our universities and other public venues has been threatened.
This book was undertaken as a response to these problems. It presents and develops a more robust discussion of what civility is, why it matters, what factors might contribute to it, and what its consequences are for democratic life. The authors included here pursue three major questions: Is the state of American political discourse today really that bad, compared to prior eras; what lessons about civility can we draw from the 2016 election; and how have changes in technology such as the development of online news and other means of mediated communication changed the nature of our discourse?
This book seeks to develop a coherent, civil conversation between divergent contemporary perspectives in political science, communications, history, sociology, and philosophy. This multidisciplinary approach helps to reflect on challenges to civil discourse, define civility, and identify its consequences for democratic life in a digital age. In this accessible text, an all-star cast of contributors tills the earth in which future discussion on civility will be planted.
Oxford University Press, 2014
In early 2012, conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh claimed that Sandra Fluke, a Georgetown Univ... more In early 2012, conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh claimed that Sandra Fluke, a Georgetown University law student who advocated for insurance coverage of contraceptives, "wants to be paid to have sex." Over the next few days, Limbaugh attacked Fluke personally, often in crude terms, while a powerful backlash grew, led by organizations such as the National Organization for Women. But perhaps what was most notable about the incident was that it wasn't unusual. From Limbaugh's venomous attacks on Fluke to liberal radio host Mike Malloy's suggestion that Bill O'Reilly "drink a vat of poison... and choke to death," over-the-top discourse in today's political opinion media is pervasive.
Anyone who observes the skyrocketing number of incendiary political opinion shows on television and radio might conclude that political vitriol on the airwaves is fueled by the increasingly partisan American political system. But in The Outrage Industry Jeffrey M. Berry and Sarah Sobieraj show how the proliferation of outrage-the provocative, hyperbolic style of commentary delivered by hosts like Ed Schultz, Bill O'Reilly, and Sean Hannity- says more about regulatory, technological, and cultural changes, than it does about our political inclinations.
Berry and Sobieraj tackle the mechanics of outrage rhetoric, exploring its various forms such as mockery, emotional display, fear mongering, audience flattery, and conspiracy theories. They then investigate the impact of outrage rhetoric-which stigmatizes cooperation and brands collaboration and compromise as weak-on a contemporary political landscape that features frequent straight-party voting in Congress. Outrage tactics have also facilitated the growth of the Tea Party, a movement which appeals to older, white conservatives and has dragged the GOP farther away from the demographically significant moderates whose favor it should be courting. Finally, The Outrage Industry examines how these shows sour our own political lives, exacerbating anxieties about political talk and collaboration in our own communities. Drawing from a rich base of evidence, this book forces all of us to consider the negative consequences that flow from our increasingly hyper-partisan political media.
There is an elaborate and often invisible carnival that emerges alongside presidential campaigns ... more There is an elaborate and often invisible carnival that emerges alongside presidential campaigns as innumerable activist groups attempt to press their issues into mainstream political discourse. Sarah Sobieraj’s fascinating ethnographic portrait of fifty diverse organizations over the course of two campaign cycles reveals that while most activist groups equate political success with media success and channel their energies accordingly, their efforts fail to generate news coverage and come with deleterious consequences. Sobieraj shows that activists’ impact on public political debates is minimal, and carefully unravels the ways in which their all-consuming media work and unrelenting public relations approach undermine their ability to communicate with pedestrians, comes at the expense of other political activities, and perhaps most perniciously, damages the groups themselves.
Weaving together fieldwork, news analysis, and in-depth interviews with activists and journalists, Soundbitten illuminates the relationship between news and activist organizations. This captivating portrait of activism in the United States lays bare the challenges faced by outsiders struggling to be heard in a mass media dominated public sphere that proves exclusionary and shows that media-centrism is not only ineffective, but also damaging to group life. Soundbitten reveals why media-centered activism so often fails, what activist groups lose in the process, and why we should all be concerned.
"Soundbitten is an astute, engagingly written study of the dynamics and costs of media obsession by activist groups. Sarah Sobieraj busts the cliches of both movement organizations and sociologists with aplomb"
-Todd Gitlin, author of The Whole World is Watching and Media Unlimited
"Sarah Sobieraj's Soundbitten is important, insightful, and disturbing. With gripping detail, she shows how activist groups try to get some of the spotlight that surrounds political conventions, and use mass media to project an image of themselves and their concerns. It's an uphill struggle, and media are far more willing to cover colorful events than cogent arguments. What's worse, in trying to cultivate the spotlight, organizations undermine their own capacity to promote meaningful political debate. Seeking legitimation from mainstream media, Sobieraj shows, seems like the unavoidable--and almost impossible--struggle for activists."
-David S. Meyer, author of The Politics of Protest: Social Movements in America
“Drawing on her extensive participant observation of social-movement organizations during several presidential campaigns, Sarah Sobieraj demonstrates how the pervasive mediatization of politics has jeopardized the ability of dissenting groups to engage in public discourse and so has altered the very fabric of both social movements and the civil society that the news media claim to inform.”
--Gaye Tuchman, author of Making News: A Study in the Construction of Reality
Papers by Sarah Sobieraj
The Oxford Handbook of Digital Media Sociology
Participatory technologies have radically expanded the opportunities for political voice and visi... more Participatory technologies have radically expanded the opportunities for political voice and visibility, a boon for those who have historically been marginalized. While women have been quick to capitalize on these tools, many find that their contributions to public discourse are met with identity-based hate and sexual intimidation. What’s more, offline inequalities among women persist online, impacting whose voices are centered or sidelined as well as the patterns of hostility. Many of sociology’s key concerns—power, inequality, culture, oppression, identity, and resistance—are central to understanding the causes and consequences of digital abuse and harassment, but thus far, few sociologists have contributed to the burgeoning research on these issues. This chapter reviews key findings from the interdisciplinary literature on women’s political voice and visibility in the digital arena, with special attention to the ways identity-based attacks negatively impact women’s participation ...
Information, Communication & Society , 2019
As a media sociologist interested in political voice, visibility, and change, I am increasingly d... more As a media sociologist interested in political voice, visibility, and change, I am increasingly drawn to and in conversation with scholarship on political communication, a rich body of work that is underutilized by researchers in many subfields within sociology, but particularly by social movements scholars. At the same time, there are spaces in the political communication
literature in which the a-sociological approach creates a 2-dimensional
representation of political life that would be greatly enhanced by building on insights from social movements research in particular and the sociological lens more broadly. Increasing exchange between these intellectual islands is essential for scholars to develop robust understandings of social and political behavior.
Information, Communication & Society , 2018
Resistance to women’s public voice and visibility via street harassment and workplace sexual hara... more Resistance to women’s public voice and visibility via street harassment and workplace sexual harassment have long constrained women’s use of and comfort in physical public spaces; this gender-based resistance now extends into digital arenas. Women face extreme hostility in the form of digital sexism in discussion rooms, comment sections, gaming communities, and on social media platforms. Reflecting on two years of in-depth interviews with women who have been on the receiving end of gender-based digital abuse (n = 38), conversations with industry professionals working in content moderation and digital safety, the extant literature, and news stories about digital attacks against women, I offer a lens to think through the prominent patterns in digital sexism, showing (1) that aggressors draw upon three overlapping strategies – intimidating, shaming, and discrediting – to limit women’s impact in digital publics, (2) the way femininity and femaleness are used to undermine women’s contributions, and (3) men call attention to women’s physicality as a way to pull gender – and the male advantage that comes with it – to the fore in digital exchanges. Finally, I argue that when digital sexism succeeds in pressing women out of digital spaces, constrains the topics they address publicly, or limits the ways they address them, we must consider the democratic costs of gender-based harassment, in addition to the personal ones.
Most research on incivility in American politics focuses on its effects on citizens' political at... more Most research on incivility in American politics focuses on its effects on citizens' political attitudes and behaviors, in spite of remarkably little data on the extent to which political discourse is actually uncivil. Those studies that do examine content focus on negative campaign advertisements, overlooking more egregious forms of political incivility that penetrate the broader media landscape. In this study, we attempt to conceptualize and measure more dramatic types of political incivility, which we term “outrage.” Outrage discourse involves efforts to provoke a visceral response from the audience, usually in the form of anger, fear, or moral righteousness through the use of overgeneralizations, sensationalism, misleading or patently inaccurate information, ad hominem attacks, and partial truths about opponents. Scrutinizing 10 weeks of data from political blogs, talk radio, and cable news analysis programs, we demonstrate that outrage discourse is extensive, takes many different forms (we examine 13 different types), and spans media formats. We also show that while outrage tactics are largely the same for liberal and conservative media, conservative media use significantly more outrage speech than liberal media. It is our hope that introducing more concrete information about the actual content of political media will render existing research on potential effects more meaningful.
Social Science …, Jan 1, 2002
Sociological theory, Jan 1, 2007
Sociological Quarterly, Jan 1, 2004
Sociological Inquiry, Jan 1, 2006
Teaching Sociology, Jan 1, 2001
Acting civically: from urban …, Jan 1, 2007
Articles by Sarah Sobieraj
American Behavioral Scientist, 2020
In this interdisciplinary roundtable discussion, five scholars interested in political communicat... more In this interdisciplinary roundtable discussion, five scholars interested in political communication work through the democratic dilemmas created when privately owned social media platforms are used as digital public squares by elected officials in the United States. This conversation unfolds in the context of ongoing legal cases that challenge politicians' efforts to block select interlocutors and bar them from participation. We grapple with the tension between politicians' use of social media to broadcast their own messages as a form of publicity with the desire by some members of the public that politicians be transparent online by allowing the electorate to question or even criticize them. Through this discussion, we weigh the importance of the right to criticize the government and its leaders alongside the realities of contentious content on social media platforms that are rife with abusive content, in a cultural context marked by social inequalities.
Uploads
Books by Sarah Sobieraj
Sarah Sobieraj shows that this online abuse is more than interpersonal bullying--it is a visceral response to the threat of equality in digital conversations and arenas that men would prefer to control. Thus identity-based attacks are particularly severe for those women who are seen as most out of line, such as those from racial, ethnic, and religious minority groups or who work in domains dominated by men, such as gaming, technology, politics, and sports. Feminists and women who don't conform to traditional gender norms are also frequently targeted.
Drawing on interviews with over fifty women who have been on the receiving end of identity-based abuse online, Credible Threat explains why all of us should be concerned about the hostile climate women navigate online. This toxicity comes with economic, professional, and psychological costs for those targeted, but it also exacts societal-level costs that are rarely recognized: it erodes our civil liberties, diminishes our public discourse, thins the knowledge available to inform policy and electoral decision-making, and teaches all women that activism and public service are unappealing, high-risk endeavors to be avoided. Sobieraj traces these underexplored effects, showing that when identity-based attacks succeed in constraining women's use of digital publics, there are democratic consequences that cannot be ignored.
This book was undertaken as a response to these problems. It presents and develops a more robust discussion of what civility is, why it matters, what factors might contribute to it, and what its consequences are for democratic life. The authors included here pursue three major questions: Is the state of American political discourse today really that bad, compared to prior eras; what lessons about civility can we draw from the 2016 election; and how have changes in technology such as the development of online news and other means of mediated communication changed the nature of our discourse?
This book seeks to develop a coherent, civil conversation between divergent contemporary perspectives in political science, communications, history, sociology, and philosophy. This multidisciplinary approach helps to reflect on challenges to civil discourse, define civility, and identify its consequences for democratic life in a digital age. In this accessible text, an all-star cast of contributors tills the earth in which future discussion on civility will be planted.
Anyone who observes the skyrocketing number of incendiary political opinion shows on television and radio might conclude that political vitriol on the airwaves is fueled by the increasingly partisan American political system. But in The Outrage Industry Jeffrey M. Berry and Sarah Sobieraj show how the proliferation of outrage-the provocative, hyperbolic style of commentary delivered by hosts like Ed Schultz, Bill O'Reilly, and Sean Hannity- says more about regulatory, technological, and cultural changes, than it does about our political inclinations.
Berry and Sobieraj tackle the mechanics of outrage rhetoric, exploring its various forms such as mockery, emotional display, fear mongering, audience flattery, and conspiracy theories. They then investigate the impact of outrage rhetoric-which stigmatizes cooperation and brands collaboration and compromise as weak-on a contemporary political landscape that features frequent straight-party voting in Congress. Outrage tactics have also facilitated the growth of the Tea Party, a movement which appeals to older, white conservatives and has dragged the GOP farther away from the demographically significant moderates whose favor it should be courting. Finally, The Outrage Industry examines how these shows sour our own political lives, exacerbating anxieties about political talk and collaboration in our own communities. Drawing from a rich base of evidence, this book forces all of us to consider the negative consequences that flow from our increasingly hyper-partisan political media.
Weaving together fieldwork, news analysis, and in-depth interviews with activists and journalists, Soundbitten illuminates the relationship between news and activist organizations. This captivating portrait of activism in the United States lays bare the challenges faced by outsiders struggling to be heard in a mass media dominated public sphere that proves exclusionary and shows that media-centrism is not only ineffective, but also damaging to group life. Soundbitten reveals why media-centered activism so often fails, what activist groups lose in the process, and why we should all be concerned.
"Soundbitten is an astute, engagingly written study of the dynamics and costs of media obsession by activist groups. Sarah Sobieraj busts the cliches of both movement organizations and sociologists with aplomb"
-Todd Gitlin, author of The Whole World is Watching and Media Unlimited
"Sarah Sobieraj's Soundbitten is important, insightful, and disturbing. With gripping detail, she shows how activist groups try to get some of the spotlight that surrounds political conventions, and use mass media to project an image of themselves and their concerns. It's an uphill struggle, and media are far more willing to cover colorful events than cogent arguments. What's worse, in trying to cultivate the spotlight, organizations undermine their own capacity to promote meaningful political debate. Seeking legitimation from mainstream media, Sobieraj shows, seems like the unavoidable--and almost impossible--struggle for activists."
-David S. Meyer, author of The Politics of Protest: Social Movements in America
“Drawing on her extensive participant observation of social-movement organizations during several presidential campaigns, Sarah Sobieraj demonstrates how the pervasive mediatization of politics has jeopardized the ability of dissenting groups to engage in public discourse and so has altered the very fabric of both social movements and the civil society that the news media claim to inform.”
--Gaye Tuchman, author of Making News: A Study in the Construction of Reality
Papers by Sarah Sobieraj
literature in which the a-sociological approach creates a 2-dimensional
representation of political life that would be greatly enhanced by building on insights from social movements research in particular and the sociological lens more broadly. Increasing exchange between these intellectual islands is essential for scholars to develop robust understandings of social and political behavior.
Articles by Sarah Sobieraj
Sarah Sobieraj shows that this online abuse is more than interpersonal bullying--it is a visceral response to the threat of equality in digital conversations and arenas that men would prefer to control. Thus identity-based attacks are particularly severe for those women who are seen as most out of line, such as those from racial, ethnic, and religious minority groups or who work in domains dominated by men, such as gaming, technology, politics, and sports. Feminists and women who don't conform to traditional gender norms are also frequently targeted.
Drawing on interviews with over fifty women who have been on the receiving end of identity-based abuse online, Credible Threat explains why all of us should be concerned about the hostile climate women navigate online. This toxicity comes with economic, professional, and psychological costs for those targeted, but it also exacts societal-level costs that are rarely recognized: it erodes our civil liberties, diminishes our public discourse, thins the knowledge available to inform policy and electoral decision-making, and teaches all women that activism and public service are unappealing, high-risk endeavors to be avoided. Sobieraj traces these underexplored effects, showing that when identity-based attacks succeed in constraining women's use of digital publics, there are democratic consequences that cannot be ignored.
This book was undertaken as a response to these problems. It presents and develops a more robust discussion of what civility is, why it matters, what factors might contribute to it, and what its consequences are for democratic life. The authors included here pursue three major questions: Is the state of American political discourse today really that bad, compared to prior eras; what lessons about civility can we draw from the 2016 election; and how have changes in technology such as the development of online news and other means of mediated communication changed the nature of our discourse?
This book seeks to develop a coherent, civil conversation between divergent contemporary perspectives in political science, communications, history, sociology, and philosophy. This multidisciplinary approach helps to reflect on challenges to civil discourse, define civility, and identify its consequences for democratic life in a digital age. In this accessible text, an all-star cast of contributors tills the earth in which future discussion on civility will be planted.
Anyone who observes the skyrocketing number of incendiary political opinion shows on television and radio might conclude that political vitriol on the airwaves is fueled by the increasingly partisan American political system. But in The Outrage Industry Jeffrey M. Berry and Sarah Sobieraj show how the proliferation of outrage-the provocative, hyperbolic style of commentary delivered by hosts like Ed Schultz, Bill O'Reilly, and Sean Hannity- says more about regulatory, technological, and cultural changes, than it does about our political inclinations.
Berry and Sobieraj tackle the mechanics of outrage rhetoric, exploring its various forms such as mockery, emotional display, fear mongering, audience flattery, and conspiracy theories. They then investigate the impact of outrage rhetoric-which stigmatizes cooperation and brands collaboration and compromise as weak-on a contemporary political landscape that features frequent straight-party voting in Congress. Outrage tactics have also facilitated the growth of the Tea Party, a movement which appeals to older, white conservatives and has dragged the GOP farther away from the demographically significant moderates whose favor it should be courting. Finally, The Outrage Industry examines how these shows sour our own political lives, exacerbating anxieties about political talk and collaboration in our own communities. Drawing from a rich base of evidence, this book forces all of us to consider the negative consequences that flow from our increasingly hyper-partisan political media.
Weaving together fieldwork, news analysis, and in-depth interviews with activists and journalists, Soundbitten illuminates the relationship between news and activist organizations. This captivating portrait of activism in the United States lays bare the challenges faced by outsiders struggling to be heard in a mass media dominated public sphere that proves exclusionary and shows that media-centrism is not only ineffective, but also damaging to group life. Soundbitten reveals why media-centered activism so often fails, what activist groups lose in the process, and why we should all be concerned.
"Soundbitten is an astute, engagingly written study of the dynamics and costs of media obsession by activist groups. Sarah Sobieraj busts the cliches of both movement organizations and sociologists with aplomb"
-Todd Gitlin, author of The Whole World is Watching and Media Unlimited
"Sarah Sobieraj's Soundbitten is important, insightful, and disturbing. With gripping detail, she shows how activist groups try to get some of the spotlight that surrounds political conventions, and use mass media to project an image of themselves and their concerns. It's an uphill struggle, and media are far more willing to cover colorful events than cogent arguments. What's worse, in trying to cultivate the spotlight, organizations undermine their own capacity to promote meaningful political debate. Seeking legitimation from mainstream media, Sobieraj shows, seems like the unavoidable--and almost impossible--struggle for activists."
-David S. Meyer, author of The Politics of Protest: Social Movements in America
“Drawing on her extensive participant observation of social-movement organizations during several presidential campaigns, Sarah Sobieraj demonstrates how the pervasive mediatization of politics has jeopardized the ability of dissenting groups to engage in public discourse and so has altered the very fabric of both social movements and the civil society that the news media claim to inform.”
--Gaye Tuchman, author of Making News: A Study in the Construction of Reality
literature in which the a-sociological approach creates a 2-dimensional
representation of political life that would be greatly enhanced by building on insights from social movements research in particular and the sociological lens more broadly. Increasing exchange between these intellectual islands is essential for scholars to develop robust understandings of social and political behavior.