IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/jcsosc/v8y2025i3d10.1007_s42001-025-00400-z.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Multi-opinion based method for quantifying polarization on social networks

Author

Listed:
  • Maneet Singh

    (Indian Institute of Technology Ropar
    Gautam Buddha University)

  • S. R. S. Iyengar

    (Indian Institute of Technology Ropar)

  • Rishemjit Kaur

    (CSIR-Central Scientific Instruments Organization
    Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research)

Abstract

Social media platforms have emerged as a hub for political and social interactions, and analyzing the polarization of opinions has been gaining attention. In this study, we have proposed a measure to quantify polarization on social networks. The proposed metric, unlike state-of-the-art methods, does not assume a two-opinion case and applies to multiple opinions. We tested our metric on different networks with a multi-opinion scenario and varying degrees of polarization. The scores obtained from the proposed metric were comparable to state-of-the-art methods on binary opinion-based benchmark networks. The technique also differentiated among networks with different levels of polarization in a multi-opinion scenario. We also quantified polarization in a retweet network obtained from Twitter regarding the usage of drugs like hydroxychloroquine or chloroquine in treating COVID-19. Our metric indicated a high level of polarized opinions among the users. These findings suggest uncertainty among users in the benefits of using hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine drugs to treat COVID-19 patients.

Suggested Citation

  • Maneet Singh & S. R. S. Iyengar & Rishemjit Kaur, 2025. "Multi-opinion based method for quantifying polarization on social networks," Journal of Computational Social Science, Springer, vol. 8(3), pages 1-17, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:jcsosc:v:8:y:2025:i:3:d:10.1007_s42001-025-00400-z
    DOI: 10.1007/s42001-025-00400-z
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s42001-025-00400-z
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s42001-025-00400-z?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Esteban, Joan & Ray, Debraj, 1994. "On the Measurement of Polarization," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 62(4), pages 819-851, July.
    2. Steven V. Miller, 2019. "What Americans Think About Gun Control: Evidence from the General Social Survey, 1972–2016," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 100(1), pages 272-288, February.
    3. Ryan J Gallagher & Andrew J Reagan & Christopher M Danforth & Peter Sheridan Dodds, 2018. "Divergent discourse between protests and counter-protests: #BlackLivesMatter and #AllLivesMatter," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(4), pages 1-23, April.
    4. G. Olivares & J. P. Cárdenas & J. C. Losada & J. Borondo, 2019. "Opinion Polarization during a Dichotomous Electoral Process," Complexity, Hindawi, vol. 2019, pages 1-9, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Leopoldo Fergusson & Carlos Molina, 2020. "Facebook Causes Protests," HiCN Working Papers 323, Households in Conflict Network.
    2. Scott Rozelle & Yiran Xia & Dimitris Friesen & Bronson Vanderjack & Nourya Cohen, 2020. "Correction to: Moving Beyond Lewis: Employment and Wage Trends in China’s High- and Low-Skilled Industries and the Emergence of an Era of Polarization," Comparative Economic Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Association for Comparative Economic Studies, vol. 62(4), pages 774-775, December.
    3. Klaus Desmet & Ignacio Ortuño-Ortín & Romain Wacziarg, 2009. "The political economy of ethnolinguistic cleavages," Working Papers 2009-17, Instituto Madrileño de Estudios Avanzados (IMDEA) Ciencias Sociales.
    4. Jo Thori Lind & Karl Moene, 2011. "Miserly Developments," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 47(9), pages 1332-1352, June.
    5. Janus, Thorsten & Riera-Crichton, Daniel, 2015. "Economic shocks, civil war and ethnicity," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 32-44.
    6. Teixidó-Figueras, J. & Duro, J.A., 2014. "Spatial Polarization of the Ecological Footprint Distribution," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 93-106.
    7. Liu, Shen & Maharaj, Elizabeth Ann & Inder, Brett, 2014. "Polarization of forecast densities: A new approach to time series classification," Computational Statistics & Data Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 345-361.
    8. Victor Ginsburgh & Shlomo Weber, 2020. "The Economics of Language," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 58(2), pages 348-404, June.
    9. Francesco Caselli & Wilbur John Coleman II, 2013. "On The Theory Of Ethnic Conflict," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 11, pages 161-192, January.
    10. Chakravarty, Satya R. & Sarkar, Palash, 2022. "A synthesis of local and effective tax progressivity measurement," MPRA Paper 115180, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    11. Alesina, Alberto & Devleeschauwer, Arnaud & Easterly, William & Kurlat, Sergio & Wacziarg, Romain, 2003. "Fractionalization," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 8(2), pages 155-194, June.
    12. Joan Esteban & Laura Mayoral & Debraj Ray, 2012. "Ethnicity and Conflict: An Empirical Study," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 102(4), pages 1310-1342, June.
    13. K.P. Gluschenko (glu@nsu.ru ), 2010. "Income inequality in Russian regions: comparative analysis," Journal "Region: Economics and Sociology", Institute of Economics and Industrial Engineering of Siberian Branch of RAS, vol. 4.
    14. Paul Collier & Anke Hoeffler, 2004. "Greed and grievance in civil war," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 56(4), pages 563-595, October.
    15. Hodler, Roland & Valsecchi, Michele & Vesperoni, Alberto, 2021. "Ethnic geography: Measurement and evidence," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 200(C).
    16. Nijkamp, Peter & Poot, Jacques, 2015. "Cultural Diversity: A Matter of Measurement," IZA Discussion Papers 8782, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    17. Andy Pike & Andrés Rodríguez-Pose & Gianpiero Torrisi & Vassilis Tselios & John Tomaney, 2010. "In search of the ‘economic dividend’ of devolution: spatial disparities, spatial economic policy and decentralisation in the UK," DEMQ Working Paper Series 2010/9, University of Catania, Department of Economics and Quantitative Methods.
    18. Timothy Besley & Torsten Persson, 2011. "Pillars of Prosperity: The Political Economics of Development Clusters," Economics Books, Princeton University Press, edition 1, number 9624.
    19. Manea, Roxana Elena & Piraino, Patrizio & Viarengo, Martina, 2023. "Crime, inequality and subsidized housing: Evidence from South Africa," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 168(C).
    20. Catherine Bros & Mathieu Couttenier, 2010. "Untouchability and Public Infrastructure," Documents de travail du Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne 10074, Université Panthéon-Sorbonne (Paris 1), Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:jcsosc:v:8:y:2025:i:3:d:10.1007_s42001-025-00400-z. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.