week 4 + lecture 11 Flashcards
characteristics of mediatisation
- politicians adapt their messages to media-logic, news values, newsroom routines and journalistics culture
- sensationalism: politics as a spectacle
focus on individuals instead of structure - emotions instead of facts
- events presented without context and explanatory frame
- media play a particular role in spreading fear and cultivating perceptions of threat
mudde about populism and democracy
populism is a symptom of a democratic deficit
- rise in right wing populism: global economic crisis leading to higher levels of inequality, with getting stereotypes about others
→ declining wealth and opportunity
- due to globalization the lower and middle class is offered less and less socio-economic protection
- first it was only lower middle class, but now also support from working-class
- due to outsourcing to countries with cheap labor and via automation at home
definiton incels
involuntary celibate: someone unable to develop romantic or sexual relationships despite desiring one
what happens with new media, individualisation and political participation
→ individualized civic environment, where public engagement is a personal experience, not a collective one → blurring the private and public sphere → these socio demographic trends will impact political participation
3 important characteristics of populism
- an idealizes sense of historical nation and community (for “the people”)
- has a critical stance towards elites
- their ideology pits a virtuous and homogenous people against a set of elites as dangerous others who are together to downgrade the sovereign people of their rights, values, voice and identity
the 2 homologies and 4 antagonists with populism
- singular leader with unique capacity to understand and represent the homogenous people
- he can claims to personally embody the direct expressions - traditional elites protect outsides at the expense of the majority of the population
- populist vs. elite
anti-establishment movement: rejection of entire economics establishment, cultural and political people - betrayal of the people
- the entire ruling class works in union against ‘the people’
- there’s only one correct use of power: when political resources are used in interest of the homogenous people - the other, the outsider, the enemy of the people
- adversarial relationships between ‘the people’ and newcomers/immigrants - Hostility of populist towards out-groups that are contrasted to the native, majority people
- us (favoring) vs. them (derogating) thinking
rule of man vs rule of law
rule of man = the claim of populists to represent the people
rule of law = the claim of the elites that populists violate constitutional and other legal norms and rules (by not being equal etc.))
results experiment with UK and DE participants reading a EU citizen blog
- yes or no conspiracy
- yes or no agreeing with conspriacy
- measures populist attitudes and xenophonia
results:
populist attitudes
no conspiracy theory:
- less agreement → more populistics
- more agreement → less populistic
yes conspiracy theory
- less agreement → less populistic
- more agreement → more populistic
xenophobia
- same as populist attitudes
- differences are higher
- gullibility explanation: populist attitudes → higher likelihood of believing any claim that is NOT INconsistent with one’s worldview
how does populism on the internet look like
- populist are more prone to spread fake news info than mainstream parties
- gullibility mixed with diffusion of hoaxes, fake news and misinfo
- online it’s easier to find communities were you are welcome (bubbles)
- once they receive positive reinforcement, easier to keep believing
- it all boils down to trust: believe the source who they trust
definiton bullshit receptivity + combination with populism
the extent to which people perceive deeper meaning in statements that appear profound but actually are empty
- populist predicts stronger receptivity (=willingness to consider new ideas) to bullshit
- inspired by research: How credible do people find news if provided by mainstream networks (CNN) vs. unknown/fake ones. results: people with populist mindset believed everything more, regardless of the source (they naive and don’t check their source)
definiton of contagion and social contagion
Contagion= transmission of a disease by direct contact with an infected person or object. a disease or poison transmitted in this way. The means of transmission of transmissionL transmission of an emotional state or a harmful influence
Social contagion= refers to the propensity (neiging) for a person to copy certain behavior of others who are either in the vicinity (nabijheid), or whom they have been exposed to.
defnition social norms
rules and standards that are understood by members of a group, guide and/or constrain social behavior without the force of lawe
RQ and results experiment in university about washing your hands and social norms
5 male college students with handwashing guide place in university bathrooms varying specific sentence about the norm:
- 4 out of 5 students wash their hands
- 1 out of 5 students wash their hands
results:
⅘ → 88% washed
⅕ → 81% washed
control → 70%
- so even saying that people do it helps
5 types of norms, with their meaning and utility
- collective
- is the actual prevalence of behavior
- utility: enable a code of conduct
example: replying to a friends text - perceived
- perceptions about the prevalence of behavior and pressures to conform
- utility: avoid cognitive dissonance - injunctive
- perceived pressure to conform to avoid social sanctions
- utility: gain social approval
example: getting many likes and followers, even tho you don’t care - descriptive
- perceived prevalence of behavior
- utility: provide social info
example: majority of people talked with their family about organ donation - subjective
perceptions about what important others expect one to do
utility: maintain harmony
defninition prevalence
the proportion of a population who have specific characteristics in a given time period
