The Devil's long tail: religious moderation and extremism on the Web
The Devil's long tail: religious moderation and extremism on the Web
In this article, we examine Chris Anderson's theory of the long tail with regard not to an economic market, but rather to the competitive marketplace of ideas. In a religious context, we interpret the long-tail theory as predicting that the Web will allow extreme or strict sects to flourish in an unprecedented way by helping proponents cater to the long tail online. If this is true, it threatens the orthodox understanding of the dynamics of religious extremism. It would also undermine the associated idea that groups’ convergence on the middle ground of religious beliefs cultivates and is cultivated by liberal civic virtues. If radical groups can flourish while preaching virtues diametrically opposed to liberalism, freedom of religion might not be so good for liberalism after all.
religious extremism, long tail markets, adam smith, cass sunstein, chris anderson, personalisation, recommendation
37-43
O'Hara, Kieron
0a64a4b1-efb5-45d1-a4c2-77783f18f0c4
Stevens, David
098753fd-88a7-453e-bf2a-8ed0fd6cfc02
November 2009
O'Hara, Kieron
0a64a4b1-efb5-45d1-a4c2-77783f18f0c4
Stevens, David
098753fd-88a7-453e-bf2a-8ed0fd6cfc02
O'Hara, Kieron and Stevens, David
(2009)
The Devil's long tail: religious moderation and extremism on the Web.
IEEE Intelligent Systems, 24 (6), .
(doi:10.1109/MIS.2009.123).
Abstract
In this article, we examine Chris Anderson's theory of the long tail with regard not to an economic market, but rather to the competitive marketplace of ideas. In a religious context, we interpret the long-tail theory as predicting that the Web will allow extreme or strict sects to flourish in an unprecedented way by helping proponents cater to the long tail online. If this is true, it threatens the orthodox understanding of the dynamics of religious extremism. It would also undermine the associated idea that groups’ convergence on the middle ground of religious beliefs cultivates and is cultivated by liberal civic virtues. If radical groups can flourish while preaching virtues diametrically opposed to liberalism, freedom of religion might not be so good for liberalism after all.
Text
IS-24-06-Ohar.pdf
- Other
More information
Published date: November 2009
Keywords:
religious extremism, long tail markets, adam smith, cass sunstein, chris anderson, personalisation, recommendation
Organisations:
Web & Internet Science
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 268500
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/268500
ISSN: 1541-1672
PURE UUID: 28279645-052b-464c-976a-de33fafc0c1a
Catalogue record
Date deposited: 11 Feb 2010 16:57
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 03:09
Export record
Altmetrics
Contributors
Author:
David Stevens
Download statistics
Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Other digital versions may also be available to download e.g. from the publisher's website.
View more statistics
