Stances on hate speechPopulation opinions and attitudes

  1. María-Dolores Cáceres-Zapatero 1
  2. Gaspar Brändle 2
  3. María-Antonia Paz-Rebollo 1
  1. 1 Universidad Complutense de Madrid
    info

    Universidad Complutense de Madrid

    Madrid, España

    ROR 02p0gd045

  2. 2 Universidad de Murcia
    info

    Universidad de Murcia

    Murcia, España

    ROR https://ror.org/03p3aeb86

Journal:
El profesional de la información

ISSN: 1386-6710,  1699-2407

Year of publication: 2023

Issue Title: International political communication

Volume: 32

Issue: 4

Type: Article

DOI: 10.3145/EPI.2023.JUL.10 DIALNET GOOGLE SCHOLAR lock_openOpen access editor

More publications in: El profesional de la información

Abstract

This research aims to know the opinions and attitudes of the Spanish population towards hate speech through a survey of 1,022 persons of both sexes and over 16 years of age. The results show a high awareness of hate speech: participants could identify these messages, assess their different intensities of severity, and understand the harm it causes. This high awareness may be because almost half of the sample has felt alluded to by these types of messages at some point. This group is more proactive in denouncing and counterattacking hate messages, although it is more frequent to remain on the sidelines. There is a hierarchy in the ratings in which racist and sexist comments are considered more severe than those directed at other minority groups (e.g., homeless people). Among the main reasons why people publish these expressions, participants point to the education of the authors, in particular, the rudeness and disrespect that are also perceived as a generalized aspect in today’s society. The polarized Spanish political context is seen as beneficial to the appearance of these messages, as well as the lack of a democratic culture that respects ideological diversity. What is most interesting is that although there is awareness of the seriousness of hate messages in other spheres and towards various groups, hate speech has become normalized in politics, as previously stated

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