Testing Inequality and Identity Accounts of Racial Gaps in Political Expression on Social Media

Do social media simply reproduce political inequality between racial groups or are they powerful tools for marginalized racial groups to contest the status quo? This study examined resource-based and identity-based theoretical explanations for differences between White people and racial/ethnic minorities in political expression on social media. Across 4 nationally representative surveys collected in the United States (2016 & 2018), we found that White people (vs. Black, Asian, and sometimes Hispanic people) had a slightly higher probability of engaging in different forms of political expression on social media. However, Black people and people from some numerically smaller racial/ethnic groups were more likely than White people to engage in symbolic behaviors such as using hashtags and changing their profile picture. While there was some evidence that differences in socioeconomic status and political interest may explain White people’s higher likelihood of political expression, identity-related factors played a counter-stratifying role. Racial/ethnic minorities were more likely than White people to view their racial group as having too little influence in American politics, a perception which was in turn positively related to political expression on social media. We use our findings – and their limitations – to argue for more robust theorization and measurement in the study of race in political communication on social media.