Beyond Physical Access: Exploring Interaction With Political Content in Social Media Among Citizens Living in Poverty

Abstract

Recent research highlights that social media may increase social inequalities in engagement with news and political information. This article explores how citizens living in poverty interact with political content in social media. To do so, it draws on material from a large qualitative effort, comprising 2 rounds of in-depth interviews with 41 citizens living in poverty in Norway, but focuses particularly on 14 interviewees who participated in a social media walk-through method. This article highlights how intersectional categories and circumstances such as gender, ethnicity, class, age, education, and parenthood are significant in shaping how citizens living in poverty encounter and interact with political content in social media. Furthermore, it discusses the significance of intersectionality for Matthew effects in engagement with news and political information in social media. Thus, it argues the importance of considering intersectionality when assessing digital inequalities in general, but particularly about information inequalities in social media.