Navigating Social Space

Abstract

In this chapter, we investigate how the prevalence of signs influences social spaces. We begin by exploring how signs impact perceptions of a neighborhood’s activism and partisan balance and, more specifically, whether signs make those perceptions more, or less, accurate. Second, using a hypothetical scenario in which respondents are asked to consider a neighbor who supports the opposing candidate, we consider how signs shape interactions among neighbors. Third, we analyze the relationship between sign prevalence and how individuals interact with their neighborhood discussion partners. We focus on two key metrics: whether individuals discuss politics with greater frequency during the campaign than they do otherwise, and whether they report heated discussions with their neighbors. Leveraging ego-centric network batteries—a tool commonly used to analyze interpersonal influence but rarely used to analyze neighborhood-specific networks—we find several patterns consistent with the notion that the mere presence of yard signs structures patterns of political discussion in neighborhoods.