scholarly journals The effect of political polarization on social distance stances in the Brazilian COVID-19 scenario

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Régis Ebeling ◽  
Carlos Abel Córdova Sáenz ◽  
Jeferson Nobre ◽  
Karin Becker
Keyword(s):  
Topic Modeling ◽  
Political Engagement ◽  
Political Orientation ◽  
Psychological Aspects ◽  
Political Polarization ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Left Wing ◽  
Multiple Dimensions ◽  
Modeling Techniques

The COVID-19 pandemic changed the routine and concerns of people around the world since 2020. The alarming contagious rate and the lack of treatment or vaccine evoked different reactions to controlling and mitigating the virus's contagious. In this paper, we developed a case study on the Brazilian COVID scenario, investigating the influence of the political polarization in the pro/against stances of social isolation, represented in Twitter by two groups referred to as the Cloroquiners and Quarenteners. We analyzed these groups according to multiple dimensions: a) concerns expressed by each group and main arguments representing each stance; b) techniques to automatically infer from users political orientation, c) network analysis and community detection to characterize their behavior as a social network group and d) analysis of linguistic characteristics to identify psychological aspects. We propose combining two topic modeling techniques, LDA and BERTopics, to understand each stance's concerns in different granularity levels. Our main findings confirm that Cloroquiners are right-wing partisans, whereas Quarenteners are more related to the left-wing. Cloroquiners and Quarenteners' political polarization influences the arguments of economy and life and a stronger support/opposition to the president. As a group, the network of Cloroquiners is more closed and connected, and Quarenteners have a more diverse political engagement with a community of users polarized only with left-wing politicians and his supporters. In terms of psychological aspects, polarized groups come together on cognitive issues and negative emotions.

scholarly journals Quarenteners vs. Cloroquiners: a framework to analyze the effect of political polarization on social distance stances

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Régis Ebeling ◽  
Carlos Córdova Sáenz ◽  
Jeferson Campos Nobre ◽  
Karin Becker
Keyword(s):  
Social Distance ◽  
Topic Modeling ◽  
Political Engagement ◽  
Political Orientation ◽  
Psychological Aspects ◽  
Political Polarization ◽  
The Political ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Left Wing

The worldwide COVID-19 pandemic has struck people’s lives overnight. With an alarming contagious rate and no effective treatments or vaccines, it has evoked all sorts of reactions. In this paper, we propose a framework to analyze how political polarization affects groups’ behavior with opposed stances, using the Brazilian COVID polarized scenario as a case study. Two Twitter groups represent the pro/against social isolation stances referred to as Chloroquiners and Quarenteners. The framework encompasses: a) techniques to automatically infer from users political orientation, b) topic modeling to discover the homogeneity of concerns expressed by each group; c) network analysis and community detection to characterize their behavior as a social network group and d) analysis of linguistic characteristics to identify psychological aspects. Our main findings confirm that Cloroquiners are right-wing partisans, whereas Quarenteners are more related to the left-wing. The political polarization of Chloroquiners and Quarenteners influence the arguments of economy and life, and support/opposition to the president. As a group, the network of Chloroquiners is more closed and connected, and Quarenteners have a more diverse political engagement. In terms of psychological aspects, polarized groups come together on cognitive issues and negative emotions.

scholarly journals What Makes Diets Political? Moral Foundations and the Left-Wing-Vegan Connection

2021 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 18-52
Author(s):  
Thomas Grünhage ◽  
Martin Reuter
Keyword(s):  
Explanatory Power ◽  
Meat Consumption ◽  
Political Orientation ◽  
Political Polarization ◽  
The Political ◽  
Environmental Damage ◽  
Moral Foundations ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Left Wing ◽  
Meat Eating

AbstractThough meat-consumption is known to be a key factor in environmental damage, veganism and vegetarianism are still perceived to be left-wing-phenomena, ironically not penetrating to those who hold ideologies of conservation. Logical contradictions and historical counter-examples cast doubt on a substantive connection between political orientation and meat-eating. Instead, common psychological factors may predispose people toward both: left vs. right-wing political orientation and self-restrictive vs. omnivore eating preferences. Moral foundations have been shown to explain why even seemingly contradictory issue stances are brought forward in the context of the same ideological or political orientation. Here, we expand on these findings by showing the moral foundations to connect political orientation and vegan and vegetarian eating preferences as well as specific strategies of meat-eating justification in a large German sample. Specifically, the binding foundations authority and purity as well as avoidance tendencies are shown to differentially interact with meat-eating across the political spectrum with stronger effects for left-wing adherents and centrists than for the right-wing. Mediation analyses reveal that substantive parts of the association between political orientation and self-restriction in eating are attributable to differences in the moral makeup of left- and right-wing adherents. Connecting our results to prior work on the explanatory power of moral foundations for the political polarization of environmentalism, we discuss how our results may inform inter-ideologically appealing communications of reducing meat consumption, which is a worthwhile and necessary goal for mitigating climate change.

Political Orientations and Morality Judgments in the Turkish Context: Considering the Roles of the Needs for Cognition and Recognition

2020 ◽  
pp. 003329411989990
Author(s):  
Burcu Tekeş ◽  
E. Olcay Imamoğlu ◽  
Fatih Özdemir ◽  
Bengi Öner-Özkan
Keyword(s):  
Need For Cognition ◽  
Political Orientation ◽  
Moral Foundations ◽  
Moral Foundations Theory ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Left Wing ◽  
Group Loyalty ◽  
Political Orientations ◽  
Collectivistic Culture

The aims of this study were to test: (a) the association of political orientations with morality orientations, specified by moral foundations theory, on a sample of young adults from Turkey, representing a collectivistic culture; and (b) the statistically mediating roles of needs for cognition and recognition in the links between political orientation and morality endorsements. According to the results (a) right-wing orientation and need for recognition were associated with all the three binding foundations (i.e., in-group/loyalty, authority/respect, and purity/sanctity); (b) right-wing orientation was associated with binding foundations also indirectly via the role of need for recognition; (c) regarding individualizing foundations, left-wing orientation and need for cognition were associated with fairness/reciprocity, whereas only gender was associated with harm/care; and (d) left-wing orientation was associated with fairness dimension also indirectly via the role of need for cognition. The cultural relevance of moral foundations theory as well as the roles of needs for cognition and recognition are discussed.

scholarly journals Globalization and populism in Europe

Public Choice ◽  
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andreas Bergh ◽  
Anders Kärnä
Keyword(s):  
Positive Association ◽  
Economic Globalization ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Political Polarization ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Left Wing ◽  
Country Level ◽  
Eu Membership ◽  
Micro Level ◽  
Using Data

AbstractRecent micro-level studies have suggested that globalization—in particular, economic globalization and trade with China—breeds political polarization and populism. This study examines whether or not those results generalize by examining the country-level association between vote shares for European populist parties and economic globalization. Using data on vote shares for 267 right-wing and left-wing populist parties in 33 European countries during 1980–2017, and globalization data from the KOF institute, we find no evidence of a positive association between (economic or other types of) globalization and populism. EU membership is associated with a 4–6-percentage-point larger vote share for right-wing populist parties.

Political orientation and images of the United States in Italy

2012 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 85-91
Author(s):  
Elena Trifiletti ◽  
Rossella Falvo ◽  
Carla Dazzi ◽  
Dora Capozza
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
Political Orientation ◽  
Image Theory ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Left Wing ◽  
Political Ideologies ◽  
Practical Implications

Image theory was used in this study to assess the images that Italian adults with different political ideologies have of the United States. In addition to the ally, barbarian, enemy, and imperialist images, a new image, that of the father, was introduced. It was found that right-wing respondents endorsed the father and ally images of Americans, while left-wing respondents perceived Americans as barbarians. The theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.

Reactions to “patriotic” and “protest” songs in individuals differing in political orientation

2017 ◽  
Vol 46 (3) ◽  
pp. 392-410 ◽  
Author(s):  
Naomi Ziv
Keyword(s):  
Political Orientation ◽  
Free Expression ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Left Wing ◽  
Protest Music ◽  
National Values ◽  
Protest Songs ◽  
The Right ◽  
Main Effects ◽  
Parallel Texts

Music is commonly used in political contexts, to strengthen attitudes and group cohesion. The reported research examined reactions to music representing national values or contesting them in individuals with different political orientations, on issues related to national pride, cohesion and free expression. In Study 1, 100 Israeli participants heard three “patriotic” or “protest” songs and rated their agreement with statements regarding them. Beyond a number of main effects of music and of political orientation, several interactions between these two variables were found. For right-wing participants, patriotic music increased pride whereas protest music increased shame and fear of social disintegration. For left-wing participants, protest music led to higher agreement with the right to free expression. Study 2 included 78 participants and repeated the procedure with parallel texts. Main effects of texts were found, but no main effects of political orientation or interactions were found. Results are discussed in terms of the role and impact of music in political settings.

Democratic Like Us? Political Orientation and the Effect of Making Democracy Salient on Anti-Israel Attitude

2015 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 97-107
Author(s):  
Yphtach Lelkes ◽  
Ariel Malka ◽  
Penelope Sheets
Keyword(s):  
Psychological Theory ◽  
Strategic Communication ◽  
Political Orientation ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Left Wing ◽  
Social Psychological ◽  
The Public ◽  
Western Democracy ◽  
Arab Muslim ◽  
The Right

AbstractIsrael is viewed unfavorably among wide segments of the public within several European democracies, despite being regarded itself as a Western democracy. Does drawing attention to Israel's democratic attributes improve views toward Israel? In two surveys with Dutch national samples, anti-Semitic affect, low anti-Arab/Muslim affect, and left-wing political orientation independently predicted anti-Israel sentiment. However, in experiments embedded within the surveys, making salient Israel's democratic attributes had opposite effects on Israel attitude across those on the right and the left – slightly decreasing anti-Israel sentiment among those with a right-wing orientation but slightly increasing anti-Israel sentiment among those with a left-wing orientation. We discuss potential explanations grounded in social psychological theory as well as implications for the strategic communication efforts of groups seeking to influence attitudes toward Israel.

scholarly journals Fighting Every Crisis in the Wake of Covid-19: Shifting Grounds for Mobilization among Fridays for Future Protesters in Germany

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Beth Gharrity Gardner ◽  
Michael Neuber
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Everyday Life ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Political Engagement ◽  
Institutional Trust ◽  
Field Surveys ◽  
Multiple Dimensions ◽  
Street Protest ◽  
Shed Light

In upending much of what is usually taken for granted about politics in everyday life, the Covid-19 pandemic is re-animating several puzzles in the study of protest participation. Here we conduct a case study of Fridays for Future (FFF) global climate strike mobilization in Berlin to shed light on the profile of activists who sustained protest mobilization in pandemic contexts. Comparing data from field surveys of protesters at the September 2020 global climate strike with data collected at the pre-pandemic strikes in September and November 2019, we examine the profile of FFF demonstrators along multiple dimensions, including socio-demographics, motivations, political engagement, and institutional trust. Our preliminary results suggest that younger, more politically engaged, and less politically-cynical climate activists joined the street protest under pandemic conditions. Beyond the large turnout of the already-committed, findings also suggest that protesters were more confident in the ability of action and policy to make a difference with climate change but also galvanized by the loss of attention to the issue in the wake of Covid-19.

scholarly journals A New Political Scarecrow? The Political Program and Activity of the ”Serbian Right“

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-26
Author(s):  
Srđan Mladenov Jovanović
Keyword(s):  
Political Engagement ◽  
The Political ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Electoral Success ◽  
Parliamentary Elections ◽  
Political Program ◽  
Political Spectrum ◽  
The Town

The organization known as Srpska desnica (SD; the Serbian Right Wing) during 2019 become increasingly seen in the Serbian media, as well as receiving augmented visibility on posters throughout the country. With their recent electoral success in the town of Medveđa, as well as their announcement that they are turning into an official party that would enter the 2020 parliamentary elections, coupled with the troublesome past of their leader, Miša Vacić, the situation calls for investigation. In this article, we are putting Miša Vacić’s public and political engagement under a magnifying glass, positioning him within the broader nationalist political spectrum of the country, engaging his official political program. We shall furthermore define the concept of the political scarecrow, a political party or figure that serves primarily to frighten, as shall be clear from the case study that this is the role of his organization.

scholarly journals Deeper than you think: partisan-dependent brain response

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Noa Katabi ◽  
Hadas Simon ◽  
Sharon Yakim ◽  
Inbal Ravreby ◽  
Yaara Yeshurun
Keyword(s):  
Magnetic Resonance Image ◽  
Neural Mechanisms ◽  
Political Polarization ◽  
The Political ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Left Wing ◽  
Functional Magnetic Resonance ◽  
Brain Response ◽  
Left And Right ◽  
Auditory Cortices

Recent political polarization has highlighted the extent to which individuals with opposing views experience ongoing events in markedly different ways. In this study, we explored the neural mechanisms underpinning this phenomenon. We conducted functional magnetic resonance image (fMRI) scanning right- and left-wing participants watching political videos just before the 2019 elections in Israel. Behavioral results demonstrated significant differences between left- and right-wing participants in their interpretation of the videos' content. Neuroimaging results revealed partisanship-dependent differences in both high-order regions and early-motor and somato-sensory regions, although no such differences were found with regard to neutral content. Moreover, we found that most of the political content was more potent in synchronizing participants with right-wing views, and that this synchronization was observed already in early visual and auditory cortices. These results suggest that political polarization is not limited to higher-order processes as previously thought, but rather emerges already in motor and sensory regions.

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