Does Democracy Become Distorted When the Public Relies on Socially Transmitted Information? A Review Article

Abstract Democracy requires informed citizens who can form political opinions, signal preferences to policymakers, and hold politicians accountable. Traditionally political scientists have focused on the mass media to understand citizens' information environment. Taylor Carlson's book, Through the Grapevine: Socially Transmitted Information and Distorted Democracy, provides a reinvigoration of the classic two-step communication model that suggests that the mass media also indirectly affects the public as some people directly consume the news and pass on distilled versions to people who rarely encounter political news themselves. The book offers a rigorous analysis of how political news content changes during social transmission and what implications these transformations have for democratic functioning. This review article assesses Carlson's book and discusses some implications for future political science research. Since the book's publication in 2024, its insights have become even more pertinent. American democracy faces threats from erosion and polarization, and the fundamental changes in the media landscape allow more people than ever to rely on enormous amounts of socially transmitted—and potentially distorted—information. Understanding these dynamics will be important for future research on political communication and public opinion.