Ideological Profile Research Articles

Ideological profiles of intellectuals from the modern age

Discutir el papel y la posible importancia que pueden, tienen o deben ejercer los intelectuales en las diferentes áreas, disciplinas o ciencias que engendran y cultivan conocimiento para la sociedad del presente y futuro; sin olvidar el pasado; en diversos escenarios del saber y del conocimiento de la sociedad. La presente investigación se aborda desde el paradigma cualitativo-Hermenéutico en la perspectiva de una revisión documental y sistemática de la literatura del objeto de estudio. En el proceso de comprender al intelectual como aquella persona que se dedica a la reflexión crítica de la realidad, según su disciplina y lugar de posición en la sociedad, por lo tanto, su intervención es influir en la realidad, alcanzando un nivel de autoridad en el entorno y ante la opinión pública, según el campo de influencia de cada intelectual. Los campos son diversos: político, religioso, literario, artístico entre otros propios de reconocimiento por la sociedad y su acción conlleva a generar una forma de trascender en el público de intervención que conlleva a consolidar la historia de las ideas.

The ideological profile of the technocratic citizen

The ideological profile of the technocratic citizen

The nostalgic and political use of the past: Fascism in the Italian Social Movement

ABSTRACT Fascism has been a persistent topic in Italian public discourse since the founding of the Republic. This essay provides an analysis of the ways in which the narratives of fascism have developed within the Italian Social Movement (M.S.I), a party established by veterans and those nostalgic for fascism. Whether revolutionary or conservative, imperialistic or nationalist, ‘Manchesterian’ or inclined towards socialization, the depiction of fascism celebrated and narrated by the M.S.I is far from unambiguous. Using local press and archival documentation, this analysis will focus on specific narrative canons at key historical moments: the party’s birth and the subsequent development of a right-wing ideological profile between the 1950s and 1960s; the 1970s, scrutinized in light of the reception of the debates among professional historians on the regime; and the 1980s, examined in the context of the weakening anti-fascist paradigm and the crisis of the bipolar global balance. The aim is to trace how this historical discourse addressed the need to consolidate a community through nostalgia or the pursuit of other political goals.

Mode of candidacy, electoral prospects, and the ideological deviation of candidacy-seeking politicians from their party leadership

Politicians who seek their parties' nomination as candidates for public office start communicating their ideological profile to the selectorate months before the party decides on who will run as candidates. However, some politicians tend to steer away from their party leadership, while others stick closer to the party line. We argue that not only the mode of candidacy but one's expected chances of winning the election during the candidate selection period are defining factors in understanding why some candidates deviate further from their party leadership position than others. We use novel data on the degree of intra-party competition among the main German parties in all 299 electoral districts and on the ideological positions of candidates, measured using their Twitter statements in the run-up to the 2021 Bundestag election, to evaluate our expectations. In line with existing studies, we find that candidates who seek only their party's nomination via lists deviate less from party leadership than candidates who seek nomination as a district candidate. In contrast to our expectations, candidates who seek their nomination in an electoral district do not deviate more ideologically from their party when they can expect to win the district seat on election day based on published polls during the candidate selection period.

In the Name of “Freedom” and “Democracy”

This article examines the rise of the populist radical right in the Czech Republic, where this party family had no parliamentary representation for many years. We show that by clarifying its ideological profile, the SPD achieved results in accordance with the social marginality and welfare chauvinism hypothesis. This is also confirmed by a spatial analysis, which shows that success of the SPD relied especially on mobilizing voters in traditional strongholds of the Czech left. In contrast, the Czech case yielded only very small support for the group threat effect and only mixed results for a U-shaped effect of age.

Collective Subjectivity of Literary Characters as Exemplified by Jorge Amado’s Marginalized Figures

The potential of the use of the concept of collective subjectivity, in literary analyses, has been partially discerned by Mario Vargas Llosa, Gérard Klein, and a group of scholars inspired by Klein’s observations (Bellagamba; Picholle; Tron, 2012). Since none of them have proposed any systematic framework, the paper theorizes the concept, proposes an analysis methodology, and presents the results of a model analysis of the collective subjectivity of Jorge Amado’s marginalized characters and its relation to the hegemonic discourses of Amado’s storyworlds and of Brazil in the 1930s, respectively. The article also presents an evaluation of the concept’s usefulness for narrative scholars. As analyzing a fictional collective subjectivity requires a custom-made framework, it has been elaborated on the basis of Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe’s (2001) Discourse Theory, Discourse-Theoretical Analysis (both alarmingly absent in literary studies), the psycho-sociological framework for real-world collective subjectivity analysis (Fabris; Puccini; Cambiaso, 2019), and narratological findings related to Possible Worlds Theory and fictional minds (Palmer, 2004). The study confirms that the use of the concept as an analytical tool can shed new light on our understanding of numerous narrative art works, especially regarding such issues as focalization, perspective, ideology, narrative empathy, unreliable narration, and consciousness representation. Moreover, the framework enables us to: 1) describe precisely the particularities of the ideological profile of a fictional collectivity and the narrator’s/implied author’s attitude towards them; 2) relate this profile to the context systematically (both to the storyworld and real-world context).

Antecedent Ideological Profiles and Negative Socio-political Outcomes of LGBTQ+ Conspiracy Beliefs

IntroductionConspiracy theories and beliefs (CTBs) about LGBTQ+ people are often used as arguments in political debate in Italy and across Europe to hinder the passing of protective laws and negatively affect popular consensus regarding the promotion of anti-discrimination policies and the advancement of civil rights.MethodWe conducted two correlational studies in Italy starting the data collection at the end of 2022. In Study 1 (N = 589), we investigated which ideological profile was more associated with LGBTQ+ CTBs, between the two profiles identified by Duckitt et al.’s model (Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 83(1), 75–93, 2002): path A) high vision of the world as a competitive jungle and consequent high social dominance orientation; path B) high vision of the world as dangerous and consequent high right-wing authoritarianism. In Study 2 (N = 1581), we have also included three potential outcomes associated with LGBTQ+ CTBs in the model.ResultsThrough a mediational path model, we found that path B was the strongest associated with LGBTQ+ CTBs. We found that LGBTQ+ CTBs mediated the relationships between the two ideological dispositions and (a) lower support to LGBTQ+ civil rights; (b) lower LGBTQ+ collective action intentions; and (c) higher adherence to economic myths about LGBTQ+ people.ConclusionsSocio-psychological research on LGBTQ+ CTBs may inform social policies that work to lessen the harm these beliefs do and advance a more welcoming and inclusive society.Policy ImplicationsSuch results offer several insights to change and improve the actual debate in political, scientific, and cultural domains, contributing to producing new policies which might increase the self-determination of all LGBTQ+ people.

LGB+ identity and its implications for the policy positions of parliamentary candidates

Abstract Several studies concentrate on the representation of minority groups and the policy goals that members of these groups highlight when becoming candidates for public offices. However, we do not know much about the degree of parliamentary representation of sexual minorities and what ideological profile politicians with an LGB+ identity adopt. We aim at filling this gap by analysing the ideological stances of LGB+ candidates on key policy dimensions. Using data from the 2021 German candidate study, we find that the self-identification as LGB+ contributes significantly to adopting progressive stances on the socio-cultural dimension and more favourable positions on welfare state expansion, regardless of further important factors like party affiliation. Moreover, candidates who consider themselves LGB+ do take on significantly less traditional positions on the socio-cultural dimension compared to the position of their party, indicating that increasing descriptive representation of LGB+ individuals in parliament leads to a strengthening of more progressive voices in parliament and a stronger substantive representation of LGB+ interests.

Czy czytelnicy „Trybuny Ludu” wierzyli jeszcze w partię? Listy do Centralnego organu KC PZPR u schyłku jej istnienia. Studium źródeł z drugiej połowy lat osiemdziesiątych

Trybuna Ludu” – the main press organ of the PZPR – presented its official political line. It was supposed to be the voice of the party leadership – not a forum for discussion. However, at the end of the 1980s, alongside the previously existing columns presenting readers’ letters selected by the editors for printing or discussion (real or fictional – this is always difficult to tell in magazines with such a propagandist and ideological profile), other kinds of readers’ voices began to appear. They were meant to be a contribution to the discussion on the necessity and shape of the reform of both the PZPR and the state. This was a discussion controlled by an editorial board which was more conservative in the sphere of ideology than the party authorities. In the surviving internal “Trybuna Ludu” bulletins and letters to the editor-in-chief, we find an overview of authentic letters that were not printed because they were too critical towards the actions of the party leadership. It was only after the loss of power by the PZPR, when the real discussion began as to whether and in what form the party could still be saved. However, it could not in any way strengthen the credibility of the PZPR in society.

The urban roots of populism: Mapping and explaining populist strongholds within major Italian cities (2013–2022)

The impact of local contexts on populist voting patterns is receiving more attention, after being initially underestimated in the research literature. Populist support tends to be concentrated in areas ‘left behind’ or ‘that don’t matter’, but we still lack an accurate understanding of (1) the locations of these places within major cities and (2) what characteristics of urban contexts prompt the populist vote. We aim to bridge this gap by analysing precinct-level electoral results of populist parties within six major Italian cities over the 2013–2022 decade. Through novel maps of the within-city populist vote, we identify four types of urban environments: populist strongholds, emerging populist, sporadically populist and never-populist areas. We then investigate how two types of intra-urban factors – compositional and contextual – relate to the formation of populist strongholds and support for populist parties with distinct ideological profiles. The findings improve our comprehension of the urban ‘places of populism’ and highlight the need for the ‘left behind’ thesis to focus more fully on within-city patterns and divides.

Is being anti-vegan a distinct dietarian identity? An investigation with omnivores, vegans, and self-identified “anti-vegans”

Adding to research on the form and content of anti-vegan sentiment, recent scholarship has identified a group of individuals who self-subscribe as “anti-vegan”. Here, we sought to determine whether anti-veganism might reflect a distinct dietarian identity with its own unique ideological profile. Two-hundred and fourteen vegans, 732 omnivores, and 222 self-identified “anti-vegans” were assessed using a survey methodology that included the Dietarian Identity Questionnaire and ideological markers related to dark humour, social dominance orientation (SDO), speciesism, male-role norms, moral relativism, and attitudes toward science. Our analysis revealed a dietarian identity unique to anti-vegans. The dietary patterns of anti-vegans were more central to their identity than for omnivores, though marginally lower than vegans. Like vegans, anti-vegans scored highly on dietarian measures of private regard and personal dietary motivations, and lower than omnivores on public regard. The diets of anti-vegans were more morally motivated than omnivores. However, anti-vegans scored higher than both omnivores and vegans on a number of ideological measures including dark humour, SDO, speciesism, male-role norms, moral relativism, and distrust of science. Somewhat surprising, anti-vegans held greater trust than omnivores in the science of plant-based nutrition. We discuss the unique dietarian identities of anti-vegans, considering both intra-group differences of omnivores and anti-vegans (e.g., in right-wing ideology), and inter-group similarities of vegans and anti-vegans (e.g., in diet centrality).

The ontological core of political radicalism. Exploring the role of antagonist, dogmatic, and populist beliefs in structuring radical ideologies

ABSTRACT Scholars have extensively explored the ideological stances of radical individuals, often concentrating on voting and policy preferences. This paper seeks to identify the foundational elements—such as antagonism, dogmatism, and populism—that constitute the ontological core of radical belief systems and gauge their prevalence in the general population. Utilizing data from the 2019 Belgian National Electoral Study, we adopt a person-centred approach to categorize individuals into various ideological profiles. Contrary to the prevailing assumption that radical individuals are “extreme” versions of mainstream voters, we provide evidence that they possess a distinct understanding of politics and society. We also found that political radicalism is not monolithic, comprising various nuanced and alternative non-mainstream configurations of beliefs. Additionally, we note that, compared to radical right voters, radical left voters are less inclined to embrace a black-and-white view of politics. Education, subjective social class, institutional trust, and powerlessness impact individuals' adherence to different belief systems.

War and Peace Journalism in Mass Shootings Coverage - Case Study of a School Shooting in the U.S. Uvalde

Research objective: Analysis of the problem of using the theory of war and peace journalism in reporting mass shootings in the American media on the example of a school shooting in Uvalde. 
 Problem and methods: The article answers the question whether theories about war and peace journalism can be helpful in the analysis of media coverage of mass shootings. The text analyzes how the leading media broadcasters in the U.S. (CNN and Fox News) use war- and peace-oriented mechanisms. The article uses research methods standard for social sciences and humanities, including content analysis with elements of framing analysis, comparative analysis and the case study. 
 Process of argumentation: The starting point for the research was the theories on war and peace journalism by Johan Galtung. The reason for undertaking the research was also the record number of mass shootings in the U.S. in 2021 and the significant importance of the Uvalde shooting in the American public debate on gun control in 2022. The article focuses on the first week of coverage of the shooting. 
 Results: American media use war journalism more often. Coverage is influenced by ideological profile and political affiliation. Political issues and the reconstruction of events come to the fore. Contexts such as victims, solutions, roots of the problem or fate of the perpetrator are discussed less frequently. The shooting in Uvalde became an instrument in the political conflict in which the media took part. 
 Conclusions, innovations, and recommendations: War journalism mechanisms favor media polarization in bipartisan conflict conditions and help show sensational events in a 24-hour cycle. In turn, the mechanisms of peace journalism support reporting on the perpetrator, victims and potential solutions. The article intends to increase awareness of various ways of publicizing extraordinary events and political conflicts and serve for more profound research in the future.

Nacjonalistyczny internet. Rekonstrukcja medialnego ekosystemu polskiej skrajnej prawicy w internecie

Głównym celem artykułu jest próba rekonstrukcji polskiego medialnego ekosystemu skrajnej prawicy funkcjonującego w internecie. Punktem wyjścia było 15 stron internetowych najbardziej rozpoznawalnych polskich organizacji skrajnie prawicowych, które za pomocą narzędzia Hyphe poddano indeksacji, by zidentyfikować kolejne strony o tym samym profilu ideologicznym. W ten sposób znaleziono 312 stron, które następnie z wykorzystaniem metod i narzędzi do analizy sieci społecznych poddano dalszym analizom w poszukiwaniu odpowiedzi na następujące pytania badawcze: 1) jak gęsta jest sieć połączeń między poszczególnymi stronami; 2) jaka jest różnorodność i dominująca orientacja ideologiczna skrajnie prawicowego internetu; 3) jakie typy stron wykorzystywane są do dystrybucji skrajnie prawicowych treści? Wyniki badań wykazały, że skrajnie prawicowe strony internetowe są dość słabo usieciowione, jednak istnieje kilka serwisów pełniących funkcję liderów opinii kluczowych dla poszczególnych grup oraz dystrybutorów treści łączących różne środowiska. Jednocześnie mimo różnorodności ideologicznej dwa środowiska – radykalnych nacjonalistów i autonomicznych nacjonalistów są kluczowe w rekonstruowanym ekosystemie medialnym. O ile to różnego rodzaju serwisy odgrywające role serwisów medialnych pozostają ważne dla każdego ze środowisk, to jednocześnie każde środowisko wykorzystuje różne typy stron w nieco odmienny sposób. Nationalist Internet. Reconstructing the Media Ecosystem of the Polish Far Right on the Internet: The article’s main objective is to reconstruct the media ecosystem of the Polish extreme right on the Internet. The starting point was 15 websites of the most recognisable Polish far-right organisations, which were indexed using the Hyphe tool to identify other websites with the same ideological profile, this identified 312 websites. These were then further analysed using social network analysis methods and tools in order to answer the following research questions: 1) how dense is the network of connections between the different sites; 2) what is the diversity and dominant ideological orientation of the far-right Internet; 3) what types of sites are used to disseminate far-right content? The research results show that far-right websites are poorly networked but that a few sites act as opinion leaders and content distributors linking different communities. At the same time, despite the ideological diversity, two communities – radical nationalists and autonomous nationalists – are critical in the reconstructed media ecosystem. While the different types of sites function as important media sites for each milieu, each milieu uses the different types of sites in slightly different ways.

Where do ‘mixed, unclear, and unstable' ideologies come from? A data-driven answer centred on the incelosphere

ABSTRACT In Europe and North America, an increasing proportion of individuals who are referred to de-radicalization programmes, arrested for terrorism offences, or involved in politically motivated violence, present a ‘mixed, unclear, and unstable' (MUU) ideological profile instead of holding a single, clear and coherent extremist belief system. Where do these composite and often inconsistent ideological constructs come from? This paper offers a direct attempt to conceptualize and empirically expose the sources and drivers of the MUU phenomenon, using an in-depth case-study tracing the emergence of MUU ideological constructs from the incelosphere. Based on a theoretical model that acknowledges the interplay of structural-, societal-, and individual-level drivers, we argue that the MUU phenomenon results from (sometimes strategic) individual uses of a specific technological affordance – outlinking – and that these fluctuate in response to significant external events such as the Covid-19 lockdown. Our findings enhance our understanding of recent cases of extremist violence and unlock new targeted avenues for CVE intervention.

Toward an Ever Looser Union? Investigating Diverging Trends in Public Opinion in Three Divided Societies

AbstractThe stability of divided societies is an important and recurring concern in political science research. It has been suggested that distinctive socialization processes in the different regions of divided societies will lead to diverging trends in public opinion. Therefore, we investigate trends in public opinion on key political issues and attitudes in three divided societies: Canada (Quebec), the United Kingdom (Scotland) and Spain (Catalonia). Using over two decades of survey data, we show that these distinct communities indeed have a particular ideological profile but also that there is no indication these differences become larger over time. In other words, we do not observe any evidence for an increasing lack of public opinion coherence in these divided societies. We conclude with some observations on why divergence could not be observed at the level of public opinion but might still be present at the level of party elites.

The Influence of Mass Media on the COVID-19 Vaccination Decision-making Process: Prospective Survey-Based Study.

Vaccine hesitancy during the COVID-19 pandemic was exacerbated by an infodemic of conflating accurate and inaccurate information with divergent political messages, leading to varying adherence to health-related behaviors. In addition to the media, people received information about COVID-19 and the vaccine from their physicians and closest networks of family and friends. This study explored individuals' decision-making processes in receiving the COVID-19 vaccine, focusing on the influence of specific media outlets, political orientation, personal networks, and the physician-patient relationship. We also evaluated the effect of other demographic data like age and employment status. An internet survey was disseminated through the Western Michigan University Homer Stryker MD School of Medicine Facebook account. The survey included questions on media sources for COVID-19 information, political affiliation, presidential candidate choice, and multiple Likert-type agreement scale questions on conceptions of the vaccine. Each respondent was assigned a media source score, which represented the political leaning of their media consumption. This was calculated using a model based on data from the Pew Research Center that assigned an ideological profile to various news outlets. The sample consisted of 1757 respondents, with 89.58% (1574/1757) of them choosing to take the COVID-19 vaccine. Those employed part-time and the unemployed were at 1.94 (95% CI 1.15-3.27) and 2.48 (95% CI 1.43-4.39) greater odds of choosing the vaccine than those employed full-time. For every 1-year increase in age, there was a 1.04 (95% CI 1.02-1.06) multiplicative increase in odds of choosing to receive the vaccine. For every 1-point increase in media source score toward more Liberal or Democrat, there was a 1.06 (95% CI 1.04-1.07) multiplicative increase in odds of choosing to take the COVID-19 vaccine. The Likert-type agreement scale showed statistically significant differences (P<.001) between respondents; those who chose the vaccine agreed more strongly on their belief in the safety and efficacy of vaccines, the influence of their personal beliefs, and the encouragement and positive experiences of family and friends. Most respondents rated their personal relationship with their physician to be good, but this factor did not correlate with differences in vaccine decision. Although multiple factors are involved, the role of mass media in shaping attitudes toward vaccines cannot be ignored, especially its ability to spread misinformation and foster division. Surprisingly, the effect of one's personal physician may not weigh as heavily in one's decision-making process, potentially indicating the need for physicians to alter their communication style, including involvement in social media. In the era of information overload, effective communication is critical in ensuring the dissemination of accurate and reliable information to optimize the vaccination decision-making process.

Unpacking complex language ideologies toward heritage language maintenance: a case of Chinese migrant families in the US

ABSTRACT This study aims to explore how a group of Chinese American families transcend essentialist thinking through negotiating with different ideological orientations toward their heritage language and how these families’ different ideological profiles could influence the home language maintenance. Data were collected through three rounds of semi-structured interviews with six Chinese migrant families in Boston, U.S. Qualitative content analysis was carried out to analyze the complexity of parents’ ideologies. The findings revealed these migrant families’ capability of perceiving their heritage language as a problem, a right, and a resource to cope with real-life problems they encounter in the host country. Moreover, the possible coexistence and contradiction of multiple ideological orientations within each family may be associated with the intergenerational linguistic transmission. The study uncovers the underlying process of language preservation at the micro-level, elicits a more expansive understanding of language ideology as a complex assemblage, and substantiates Ruiz’s tripartite orientations as a practical heuristic for analyzing the interplay of differing beliefs. Crucially, whether to maintain one’s heritage language in migrant families is less of a nostalgia for their home country, but rather more of an ongoing process situated in their agentive attempts for meaning-making as members of their new multilingual society.

Populism in the eye of the beholder? A conjoint experiment on citizens’ identification of populists

AbstractDespite decades of research on the nature and characteristics of populism, and on how political actors interpret populist attitudes, the study of how the public identify populist politicians remains a largely unexplored topic. Is populism in the eye of the beholder? What causes voters to perceive a political actor as populist? Is there any systematic heterogeneity in the evaluation of candidates among citizens according to their individual characteristics? We fill this gap by analysing what characteristics of politicians, and the political statements they make, drive citizens to classify them as populist. Furthermore, we investigate how the cognitive, ideological and attitudinal profiles of citizens shape their perceptions. To this end, we report results of a conjoint experiment embedded in a survey administered to a nationally representative sample of Italian citizens. Respondents were asked to evaluate different political statements by politicians, of whom we manipulated a variety of relevant attributes (e.g., their ideological profile, gender, previous occupation). Results indicate two clear trends: (i) More than the profile of politicians, what matters for their identification as populist is their rhetoric. (ii) The cognitive (with the partial exception of education) and ideological profiles of respondents are largely inconsequential. At the same time, populist voters are substantively less likely to identify populism as such.

The Epistemological Profile of Legal Doctrinal Scholarship—A Reply to Geoffrey Samuel

This piece is a response to Geoffrey Samuel’s review article that deals with my 2021 monograph, Legal Doctrinal Scholarship. I aim to correct misrepresentations of my position, but I also seek possibilities of a more constructive engagement between Samuel’s diachronic analysis of the development of legal thought and my synchronic account of the character of legal scholarship. The first substantive section aims to set the record straight by explaining my account of legal doctrinal scholarship (as a normative and hermeneutic discipline) against the background of my thoroughly interpretive methodology. Then, I move on to addressing some of Samuel’s specific objections to my account—related to the idea of the rational reconstruction of the law, the scope of interdisciplinary engagement in academic research into law, and the ideological profile of legal doctrinal scholarship. Finally, I address why Samuel’s own account does not fit into the parameters of my own theoretical project. My methodology leaves room for a range of different approaches to legal scholarship—including Samuel’s historical jurisprudence. However, Samuel’s approach lacks the argumentative force he would need to exclude the possibility of providing legal doctrinal scholarship with a plausible epistemological justification within the methodological parameters of my account. I argue that, ultimately, our debate is about the implications of methodological pluralism: the conditions under which theoretical accounts with very different methodological assumptions may have a correcting influence on one another.&#x0D; Keywords: Samuel (Geoffrey); interpretivism; science; scholarship; normativity; rational reconstruction; interdisciplinary engagement; ideology; methodological pluralism.