Lecture 7 - Social media and political campaigns

Question 1

Life cycle voting (Tentamenvraag)

Answer 1

Political participation follows an age-related cycle. Owing to various structural, social, moral and economic factors, a smaller percentage of young people vote compared to older people
- Life cycle effect in policital behavior: relationships between age and political behavior is curvilinear: people are most active in middle life and least active in the earliest and latest stages of the life cycle.

Question 2

Social media and news avoidance

Answer 2

• commercialization changed content and form: young people are less exposed to political information and more to entertainment. Result: lack of political interest and lower levels of political knowlegde among young people

Question 3

What do generations think of a democracy?

Answer 3

There is a decline in people who think it is essential to live in a democracy.
Younger generations –> lower support for democracy

Question 4

Broadcasting –> narrowcasting

Answer 4

Fragmentation of audiences, combined with more partisan / ideological product differentation

Question 5

Demassification of mass communication

Answer 5

• Shared knowledge base is lower.
• Hyper personalisation
• Narrow casting; being targeted, being profiled. –> very selective exposure. The news chooses you.
• Part of the public can ‘tune out’ completely from politically relevant news.

Question 6

Selective exposure definition

Answer 6

Audiences are increasinlgly likely to receive information that is customized to their personal tastes, interest, and political viewpoints to the possible exclusion of other information.

Question 7

Hyperpersonalisation

Answer 7

Seen as something that is done by algorithms made by gatekeepers. The selection of the news is done by algorithms. Because there is so much information, people feel overwhelmed. This could lead to news fatigue

Question 8

News fatigue (Tentamenvraag)

Answer 8

News fatigue refers to the feeling of being overwhelmed or exhausted by the constant stream of news and information that is available through various media channels.

Question 9

News avoidance (Tentamenvraag?)

Answer 9

News avoidance refers to a deliberate decision to avoid consuming news altogether. This can be due to a variety of reasons, such as feeling overwhelmed by the news, finding the news too negative or sensationalistic, or simply not having the time or interest to follow current events. Some people may also choose to avoid news because they feel that it is biased or unreliable.

Question 10

Hard news (Tentamenvraag)

Answer 10

Hard news is about themes and frames things in a context. Structural, long term developments, impersonal. (causes of unemployment, policies to reduce etc.)
Style: text, unemotional

Question 11

Soft news (Tentamenvraag)

Answer 11

Interviews, incidents, experiencing unemployment, individual, not politically relevant, social interest angle.
Style: emotional, dramatizing, exaggerating, visual

Question 12

Low information voters

Answer 12

Voters have become more polarized by education – less-educated voters go in the direction of populists. Their vote is based on emotions –> out-group derogation. They lack a ‘need for cognition’ (NFC).

Question 13

Need for cognition

Answer 13

• People with low need for cognition find little reward in collecting and evaluating new information to solve problems and consider competing issue positions. They are likely to rely on cognitive shortcuts for cues.
• People with a high need for cognition have a
  positive attitude toward tasks that require reasoning and effortful thinking and are more likely to invest the time and resources to do so when evaluating complex issues.

Question 14

NFC and knowledge

Answer 14

• NFC and political knowledge are strongly related. Voters who tend not to think much tend to prefer Trump over Clinton.
• Cultural concerns are connected to economic concerns.

Question 15

Article Norris, Garnett & Gromping 2020

Answer 15

• Conspiracy belief and populism drive belief in unfair elections. Effect exacerbated by extremism and political knowledge, attention to politics and general trust and democratic satisfaction.

Question 16

Anywhere’s

Answer 16

• Educated, mobile, value autonomy, opennes, fluidity
• Dominate
• Progressive worldview
• Comfortable with open borders, immigration. See themselves as citizen of the world. It is about individual self-realization.

Question 17

Somewhere’s

Answer 17

• Less educated, more rooted, value security, ascribed group identities
• Feel excluded
• Conservative worldview (decent populism)
• Uncomfortable about cultural and economic change, want opennes that does not disadvantage them
• Voice their concers via outsiders, mobilize through new parties or outside party structures.

Question 18

Populism

Answer 18

• An idealised sense of historical nation and (often ethnic) community (the ‘people’)
• A critical stance towards ‘the elites’
• An ideology which pits a virtuous and homogenous people against a set of elites and dangerous ‘others’ who are together depicted as depriving (or attempting) the sovereign people of their rights, values, prosperity, identity and voice
• Corrupt elite vs noble people
• Manichean outlook - good vs. bad groups

Question 19

Political outsiders

Answer 19

• No/little political experience
• Not part of established party
• No formal political position
• New party or movement

Question 20

Affective polarisation

Answer 20

• How much I dislike you or like you
• Emotional level –> the oppononent is seen as more negative over time
• It’s problematic because there is lack of respect
• Not easy to change –> hard to find compromise and social stability

Question 21

Product-oriented party

Answer 21

• Policy seeking
• Mostly able to consistently win elections and dominate the political landscape
• Goal: Maximize parliamentary influence

Question 22

Sales-oriented party / office party

Answer 22

• Votes and policy seeking
• Goal: maximize internal cohesion

Question 23

Market-oriented party / vote seeking

Answer 23

• Votes and office seeking. More about power orientation.
• Goal: maximize voter support

Question 24

Americanisation

Answer 24

• Americanization refers to the process of adopting or assimilating American culture, values, and customs in other parts of the world
• In this case; copying American campaigns

Question 25

Premodern Campaign Characteristics (Party - logic) (TT!)

Answer 25

- Party dominated - Messages along party lines - Partisan press, posters, newspaper adverts, radio broadcasts - Print advertising, posters, leaflets, radio, speaches - Short term campain preparation - Low expenditure

Question 26

Modern campaing characteristics (Media logic) (TT!)

Answer 26

- Television-centered - Sound bites, image and impression management - Television broadcasts through main evening news - Nationwide televeision advertisements, colorful posters and magazine adverts - party campaign magnagers and external media, advertising and survey experts - Longer term campaing - Increasing expenditures

Question 27

Postmodern campain characteristics (Marketing logic) (TT)

Answer 27

- Multiple channels and multi-media - Narrow-casted, targeted micro messages - Television narrow-casting, targeted direct mail and e-mail campains - special party campaign units and more specialized political consultatns - Permanent campaign - Spiraling up expenses

Question 28

Internal professionalization

Answer 28

Process where more people working within the parties acquire greater knowlegde and expertise within the field of election campaigning, and where the size of the staff working with campaigning and communication is growing. External professionalization refers to a process where parties and candidates increasingly hire professional, external advisors and consultants with specialized knowledge/expertise