Search results for "political engagement"
showing 7 items of 7 documents
A bioweapon or a hoax? The link between distinct conspiracy beliefs about the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak and pandemic behavior
2020
During the coronavirus disease pandemic rising in 2020, governments and nongovernmental organizations across the globe have taken great efforts to curb the infection rate by promoting or legally prescribing behavior that can reduce the spread of the virus. At the same time, this pandemic has given rise to speculations and conspiracy theories. Conspiracy worldviews have been connected to refusal to trust science, the biomedical model of disease, and legal means of political engagement in previous research. In three studies from the United States ( N = 220; N = 288) and the UK ( N = 298), we went beyond this focus on a general conspiracy worldview and tested the idea that different forms of …
Resolving the Puzzle of Conspiracy Worldview and Political Activism: Belief in Secret Plots Decreases Normative but Increases Nonnormative Political …
2019
It is a hitherto open and debated question whether the belief in conspiracies increases or attenuates the willingness to engage in political action. In the present article, we tested the notion, whether (a) the relation between belief in conspiracies and general political engagement is curvilinear (inverted U-shaped) and (b) there may be opposing relations to normative versus nonnormative forms of political engagement. Two preregistered experiments ( N = 194, N = 402) support both propositions and show that the hypothetical adoption of a worldview that sees the world as governed by secret plots attenuates reported intentions to participate in normative, legal forms of political participati…
Young Scottish National Party Members’ Perceptions of Scotland and the United Kingdom
2021
This paper explores young Scottish National Party (SNP) members’ views of Scotland and the United Kingdom. It is based on the analysis of the results of an online survey and interviews with young SNP members about their political engagement and their understanding of national identity, which we carried out from 2018 to 2020. Our study focuses especially on how the members of Young Scots for Independence (YSI) and SNP Students, the youth and student wings of the SNP, perceive the Scottish nation and the UK. This paper reflects upon the way these young people define Scottishness and Scottish society. It also discusses the role of national identity in their campaign for independence. Do they w…
Academics as Politicians and as Operators of Global Governance
2018
In this chapter, the author scrutinizes the links between politics and academe in global governance. He analyzes two cases, those of former president of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso and philosopher Michel Foucault, that exemplify different types of political engagement. Social scientists play a key but concealed part in the steering of global governance. Under and beyond global institutions, they partake in the development of influential transnational professional groups. By producing practical knowledge for everyday or ‘banal’ global governance, social scientists shape the politically imaginable at more institutional levels. Yet others provide at a higher level of abstractio…
PRATIQUES INFO-COMMUNICATIONNELLES ET MOBILISATION SOCIALE À L'ÈRE D'INTERNET : LE CAS DE L'ITALIE
2013
Ce travail de recherche porte sur le rôle des pratiques info-communicationnelles de l'Internet dans la constitution, le développement et la mobilisation des nouveaux groupes contestataires en Italie. Avec cette approche, nous souhaitons porter notre attention sur les pratiques humaines et non pas sur les réseaux informationnels, considérés trop souvent comme le moteur déterminant du changement social. Ainsi, bien que l'essor d'Internet n'ait pas impliqué le passage à une forme de société plus émancipée, la création d'espaces informationnels indépendants représente néanmoins un enjeu politique important. L'enquête de terrain est structurée en deux volets, l'un portant sur l'analyse de la mob…
How, Why and with Whom Do Local Politicians Engage on Facebook?
2013
Part 2: Social Media and E-Participation; International audience; This article focuses on how, why and with whom local politicians engage on Facebook. Based on a literature review of the public sphere, eParticipation and research related to social media, we propose a theoretical framework that identifies thematic areas integral to understanding the nature of political participation. The explanatory potential of our ‘ENGAGE’ model (Exchange, Narcissist, Gather, Accented, General and Expense) is exemplified by conducting a qualitative case study focusing on politicians in a local municipality in southern Norway. The findings indicate various uses of Facebook among the respondents, and a disso…
Start Spreading the News: A Comparative Experiment on the Effects of Populist Communication on Political Engagement in Sixteen European Countries
2018
Although populist communication has become pervasive throughout Europe, many important questions on its political consequences remain unanswered. First, previous research has neglected the differential effects of populist communication on the Left and Right. Second, internationally comparative studies are missing. Finally, previous research mostly studied attitudinal outcomes, neglecting behavioral effects. To address these key issues, this paper draws on a unique, extensive, and comparative experiment in sixteen European countries (N = 15,412) to test the effects of populist communication on political engagement. The findings show that anti-elitist populism has the strongest mobilizing eff…