Moral Exemplars and Moral Followers on Twitter: Human Rights Activism and Politeness

Abstract

Until recently, studies on moral exemplars focused on the characteristics or roles of exemplars in moral education. However, the issue of the possible effects of moral exemplars on their followers lacked adequate coverage in studies on psychology. Thus, the current study discussed the concept of moral following in the context of social media. The study conducted a comparison between Twitter users engaged in Malcolm X and human rights activists unengaged in moral exemplars. The accounts of moral followers (N = 20) were compared with those of human rights activists (N = 20). Tweets were subjected to content analysis, and categories related to activism were determined. The groups were compared in terms of the seven categories using the Mann–Whitney U-test. Statistically significant differences were observed between the groups in terms of impoliteness (U = 83; p < .01), prejudice/discrimination (U = 130; p < .01) and antisocial rights/justice-seeking (U = 126,5; p < .05). The results demonstrated that moral followers preferred offensive and impolite language. The findings were discussed in the context of possible explanations.