The Devil's Long Tail: Religious Moderation and Extremism on the Web
The Devil's Long Tail: Religious Moderation and Extremism on the Web
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DOI：
10.1109/mis.2009.123
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发表时间：
2009-11
影响因子：
6.4
通讯作者：
K. O’Hara;D. Stevens
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
K. O’Hara;D. Stevens
网络既能满足主流品味，又能满足小众市场。它会帮助极端宗教团体获得前所未有的突出地位吗？克里斯安德森（Chris Anderson）的长尾理论是关于网络未来（尤其是电子商务）的一个重要论点。用经济学的语言来说，由于规模经济，传统市场最能满足正常需求曲线的凸起，大多数消费者聚集在那里。在这篇文章中，我们研究这一理论，而不是一个经济市场，而是竞争市场的想法。在宗教背景下，我们将长尾理论解释为预测网络将允许极端或严格的教派以前所未有的方式蓬勃发展，帮助支持者迎合在线长尾。如果这是真的，它威胁到对宗教极端主义动态的正统理解。这也会破坏相关的想法，即各群体在宗教信仰的中间立场上的趋同培养了自由的公民美德。如果激进团体能够在宣扬与自由主义截然相反的美德的同时蓬勃发展，那么宗教自由对自由主义来说可能就不是那么好了。
The Web caters to niche markets as easily as it does to mainstream tastes. Will it help extreme religious groups achieve unprecedented prominence? An important thesis for the future of the Web, particularly for e-commerce, is Chris Anderson's long-tail theory. In the language of economics, the traditional marketplace best satisfies the bulge of the normal demand curve, where most consumers congregate, thanks to economies of scale. In this article, we examine this theory 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.