Terrorist attacks sharpen the binary perception of “Us” vs. “Them”

Milan Jović, Lovro Šubelj, Tea Golob, Matej Makarovič, Taha Yasseri, Danijela Boberić Krstićev, Srdjan Škrbić, Zoran Levnajić

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Terrorist attacks not only harm citizens but also shift their attention, which has long-lasting impacts on public opinion and government policies. Yet measuring the changes in public attention beyond media coverage has been methodologically challenging. Here we approach this problem by starting from Wikipedia’s répertoire of 5.8 million articles and a sample of 15 recent terrorist attacks. We deploy a complex exclusion procedure to identify topics and themes that consistently received a significant increase in attention due to these incidents. Examining their contents reveals a clear picture: terrorist attacks foster establishing a sharp boundary between “Us” (the target society) and “Them” (the terrorist as the enemy). In the midst of this, one seeks to construct identities of both sides. This triggers curiosity to learn more about “Them” and soul-search for a clearer understanding of “Us”. This systematic analysis of public reactions to disruptive events could help mitigate their societal consequences.

Original languageEnglish
Article number12451
JournalScientific Reports
Volume13
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Dec 2023

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Terrorist attacks sharpen the binary perception of “Us” vs. “Them”'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this