IIARD International Institute of Academic Research and Development

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND MANAGEMENT RESEARCH (IJSSMR )

E-ISSN 2545-5303
P-ISSN 2695-2203
VOL. 9 NO. 11 2023
DOI: 10.56201/ijssmr.v9.no11.2023.pg290.302

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Misinformation and Social Cohesion – Evaluating the Treats to Community Trust and Cooperation

Rilwan Ayobami Salaudeen

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Abstract

In recent years, the impact of misinformation on harmonious co-existence, social cohesion, community trust, and cooperation with many surrounding issues cannot be underestimated. Emerging academic inquiry has explored the impacts on a more comprehensive, societal scale. Notwithstanding, its influence on the community trust and cooperation across the world has remained relatively unacknowledged. This paper highlights how these impacts can affect the peace of communities, and harmonious-coexistence focusing distinctly on trust between leaders and citizens and the overall social and political dynamics and cohesion demonstrated through broader impacts. It examines the vertical versus horizontal and subjectivity versus objectivity impact of misinformation and social cohesion. The study also brought the relevance of Grimalda and Tänzer (2018) empirical work on the determinants of social cohesion and its effects on other key variables for policy making in community trust and cooperation. It found out that the proliferation of false news has potential of benefiting certain factions of the society unjustly, whether in politics, economic, or psychological domains. The paper recommended amongst others that the general public should always accept the mainstream media as an unbiased and reliable source of their information; civil society and the government should take centre-stage and bottom-up initiatives in the campaign against misinformation; community growth and development inclusivity, and improvement in reciprocal tolerance across different ethnic and social groups.

keywords:

Misinformation, Social Cohesion, Community Trust, Cooperation

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