The Project The Investigation About Resources Join the Challenge

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The Investigation

This text presents the principal results from the research project “Breaking the chains of hate, forging networks of support: young people and online hate speech”, developed by the Centro Reina Sofía sobre Adolescencia y Juventud(Reina Sofia Centre for Adolescence and Youth), part of FAD. The primary aim of the research was to analyse the perceptions, attitudes and experiences of young Spanish people in relation to their experiences of online hate speech.

Using a qualitative methodology, the research undertakes an analysis of the current situation in Spain. Apart from an extensive review of secondary data and literature, qualitative material was collected through several techniques, all employed in online contexts.

Amongst the pedagogical strategies there are a number of impor- tant proposals and aims:

-Neutralising the elements that sustain hate through training in critical thinking, conflict management, learning that freedom of expression comes with res- ponsibilities, managing difference and feelings of frustration, the possibility of being wrong and how to rectify or make amends, as well as the management of emotions and self-esteem

-Setting out the bases of a technological and emotional education in how to use the Internet and social media that transcends the operative by taking a transversal approach in conjunction with educational values and the management of emotions in online contexts. This also implies that education and training in technology moves beyond questions of privacy, cyber security and addiction.

-Promoting alternatives to reactive discourses that are based on horizontal messages and mediated action within peer groups. In this case, if adolescents and young adults feel that they do not have a legitimate leading role and that actions or strategies are not their own, they will remain suspicious of any process of pre- vention and education that identifies them as affected.

-Use first person narratives that visibilise the personal consequences of hate speech.

-Placing an emphasis on the capacity and responsibi- lity of individuals to break the chains of hidden and normalised hate within close social networks where a silent majority creates a stable environment for the persistence of hate. In other words, in the face of low intensity hate, generate awareness and high-density support.