Conference Agenda

The literature on whether the internet functions more as an echo chamber, reinforcing users' pre-existing views, or as a diverse forum presenting a multitude of perspectives is ongoing and marked by varied research outcomes. Some studies have identified a tendency for online spaces to foster ideological segregation, suggesting that digital platforms might indeed serve as echo chambers. Conversely, other research indicates that social media platforms, such as Twitter, could offer users exposure to a wider range of news sources and viewpoints than initially thought, challenging the notion of the internet solely as a space of ideological confinement.

Our research aims to deepen the understanding of echo chambers on Twitter/X, addressing gaps in prior studies that have primarily focused on the impact of ideology on information diversity while often overlooking crucial sociodemographic factors. Recognizing that many individuals do not engage deeply with political content, we emphasize the need to expand our inquiry beyond ideological divides. To this end, we employ a representative panel of 1.6 million Twitter/X accounts linked to voter files over four years (building on the approach proposed by Grinberg et al. 2019) and multiple waves of a large national survey (www.covidstates.org). This approach facilitates a comprehensive examination of information consumption and engagement patterns, highlighting the influence of gender, race, and rural living on public discourse and the variety of information accessed. Our objective is to move past the simplistic binary of ideological echo chambers, exploring a broader spectrum of user interactions.

We investigate three key aspects of information consumption on Twitter/X: the diversity of news consumption, the social network dynamics of news sharing, and the structure of user clusters around news sources. By examining whether users are exposed to diverse viewpoints or remain confined to echo chambers that reinforce existing beliefs, we seek to gauge the extent of diverse perspective encounters. Additionally, our analysis of how users cluster around certain news sources and how these clusters vary demographically is pivotal for determining whether Twitter/X serves as a platform for diverse idea exchange or as segmented spaces catering to specific group preferences.

This multifaceted investigation enables us to dissect the complex dynamics of echo chambers on Twitter/X, evaluating the platform's role in either facilitating a broad discourse or contributing to ideological segmentation. Our findings aim to illuminate the role of social media platforms in public discourse, opinion formation, and the vitality of democratic societies, highlighting Twitter's broader implications for societal dialogue and democracy.

In this paper I intend to understand Buddhism and the visions and practices of Buddhists (in new lands) using central aspects of Buddhism: non-self (non-duality) and dependent origination and interdependence

Relational sociology and "Social Network Analysis" offer us a new perspective where meaning is acquired in relationships, structures and systems of relationships. It is a vision closer to Buddhism: not-self, interdependence and causal interrelation, emptiness. Nothing makes sense on its own.

Relational sociology and "Social Network Analysis" take for granted the interaction, linkage, between everything that exists (such as Buddhism, and even quantum theories). It goes from the autonomous individual conceptual level to a higher level in abstraction with a meaning different from its components in interrelation. It is something new, socially, conceptually different. It is a new, different product and it is also changing.

Everything acquires meaning in interaction: different interactions imply/result in different meanings. Focusing on co-occurrences, coincidences, links or relationships allows us to approach relational systems and structures and to map/draw maps and social paths.

In this paper I apply the theoretical and technical approach of Social Network Analysis to understand the visions, values and practices of Buddhists as systems of interaction, breaking with duality. I use data from the first international survey of the Buddhist population in Spanish-speaking countries: "Following the Buddhist Path: Our Values, Religiosity, Spirituality" conducted in 2022.

The goal is to understand and visualize the complex system of interrelationships and interdependencies that shape our lives and the social and its meanings. To make Social Maps emerge along with the paths and connections between visions, meanings, actions and practices that make up the social map of a specific or global social space.

Network analysis of mass belief systems has emerged as a powerful approach for studying public opinions. This methodology transforms correlation matrices derived from subjective survey questions—items measuring attitudes and beliefs—into weighted networks where beliefs denote nodes and correlation values signify tie strength. Such transformations of survey data into belief networks, however, capture only one projection of an inherently bipartite structure—where survey respondents and beliefs constitute two distinct modes connected through responses. Current research faces two critical limitations: the methodological constraint of analyzing only the belief network projection, and the predominant focus on Western democratic contexts. This study addresses both gaps through a comprehensive bipartite network analysis of the 2017 Chinese General Social Survey.

The dual-projection analysis reveals distinct structural patterns. In the belief network, Confucian values—particularly filial piety and traditional gender roles—demonstrate high betweenness centrality and strong inter-node connections, while political beliefs occupy peripheral positions with low centrality measures and weak ties to other beliefs. In the respondent network, we apply community detection algorithms to identify distinct opinion groups. Subsequent multinomial logistic regression reveals systematic associations between group membership and sociodemographic factors such as urban residency, gender, education levels, and age cohorts. Interestingly, central filial piety beliefs show minimal variation across detected communities, while traditional gender role beliefs exhibit significant differentiation.

This study advances belief network methodology by demonstrating how a bipartite, dual-projection analysis captures complementary structural dimensions of beliefs and people, while empirically documenting how local traditional values remain influential under the authoritarian context.