Do Birds of a Different Feather Flock Together? An Empirical Analysis of the Influence of Ideology on Friendship in China

Based on empirical evidence from a survey of a group of Chinese youth, this article describes the distribution of individual ideological positions, charts friendships graphically in the real world and cyberspace, examines the influence of individual ideological positions on social interactions by using exponential random graph models, and further analyses the ideological characteristics of social interaction networks using a non-parametric test of network centrality. The findings have shown that the overall ideological positions of survey respondents are inclined towards the left; in cyberspace, two individuals holding the same ideological position are more likely to become friends, while in reality, the effect of ideological position on individuals' social interactions is not significant. The results can be explained by the "spiral of silence" theory. In reality, under the pressure of ideology education enforced by the governments and their policies, individuals deliberately shy away from discussing and sharing ideological perspectives to avoid creating tension or conflict in relationships with close friends, while in cyberspace, with a relatively higher level of freedom of speech, individuals are able to create and transmit information in order to seek a certain degree of influence and discursive power. Therefore, they are more willing to socialise with people holding similar ideological positions.