Personal Politics Research Articles

What Drives the Impact of Personalization in Western Europe?

ABSTRACT The personalisation of politics has been widely studied in the past few decades, especially in Western Europe, from several viewpoints, from the electoral to the party-centered one, from the governmental to the media-related one. Nonetheless, very few contributions have focused on the determinants of personalization, even if this latter process might be linked to more general – and much relevant –societal, institutional, or party-related phenomena. In this article, we aim to fill this gap by proposing a novel framework to explain the evolution of the impact of the personalization of politics – i.e., the fact that personalization has had a stronger or weaker influence – in Western Europe between the mid-1990s and the mid-2010s. We depart from cross-time and cross-country data collected in the first expert survey on the personalization of politics (the PoPES) and investigate the effect of three sets of possible determinants: societal changes (the decrease in the strength of the class cleavage or the diffusion of TV), institutional factors (the presence of presidential elections or personal-vote-driving electoral systems’ features), and party-related changes (the organizational decline of Western European parties). Regression analyses show that almost none of these determinants have influenced personalization's impact in Western Europe.

Parodying incompetence in (I)europa: Hearing glide insertion and communism in a Romanian politician's speech

AbstractMy paper asks which linguistic features become enregistered to a politician's image, and how this process occurs. I examine glide insertion in the speech of former Romanian Prime Minister Viorica Dăncilă and parodies of her. As parody requires exaggeration of salient features in order to be legible, I use it to investigate what is heard as salient in Dăncilă's speech. Although glide insertion is uncharacteristic of Dăncilă's speech, parodies overrepresent Dăncilă's use of the feature. To explain this, I investigate social meanings of glide insertion through metalinguistic commentary and historical memory, finding that glide insertion links Dăncilă to Romania's Communist era. Though Dăncilă rarely uses glide insertion, the feature emblematizes her political persona. Treating parodic performance as reflecting a wider listening subject, I show the listening subject's ideologies influence the enregisterment of a feature to an individual; the process by which a politician's linguistic image arises is dialogic and heavily involves listeners.

Exploring the connection between electoral systems and personalized behaviour among politicians and voters

AbstractThe personalization of politics includes electoral reforms that give voters more opportunity to select individual representatives as well as behavioural personalization among voters and politicians. Institutional research suggests that the latter is a function of the former, but it remains unclear whether the association between the two types of personalization is actually causal. In order to get empirical leverage on this question, we analyze local elections in Denmark, which feature within‐district and within‐party variation in the openness of party lists. Using detailed information on the behaviour of politicians and voters, we find that, once we take differences between districts and parties into account, the personalization of electoral rules has a negligible effect on behavioural personalization.

The Psychological and Social Underpinnings of Political Belief Development

In this study we will, examine the complicated psychological and social forces that produce political attitudes. The paper reveals the twofold nature of the cognitive processes; how emotive and cognitive biases influence reasoning about politics. The findings reveal that one of the common types of directional motivated reasoning is one in which the pre-held belief impacts the treatment of political information, which in turn results in biased assessment of political personalities and issues. Other than that, this research discusses the role of conversation and deliberation in the promotion of reflective political opinions. Discussion with others persuades a person to express an opinion and to listen to others that develop one's thinking of political matters. The paper also discusses the emotions, such as anxiety and anger, associated with political judgment, maintaining that such emotions distort and occlude any lucid judgment about political performance. It also reveals that scientific curiosity acts to offset such one-sidedness: "The more scientifically curious anyone is, the more open they will be to information that runs counter to pre-existing points of view, allowing them to reason more impartially." Findings underpin views that a critical thinking-open discussion environment will be highly instrumental in raising political awareness and understanding. The present study bequeaths an important understanding of the psychological mechanisms underlying the construction of political opinion and the social processes that can help consolidate or contest these opinions. Controlling these factors sets up a better ability to confront polarization and misinformation in modern political discourses

Testing Theories of Threat, Individual Difference, and Ideology: Little Evidence of Personality-Based Individual Differences in Ideological Responses to Threat

Recent attempts to establish the veracity of the conservative shift hypothesis have failed to find supportive evidence. Instead, this work yields inconsistent results and reveals considerable individual differences in ideological responses to ecological threats. In two studies, we build upon this work in two ways. First, we test the conservative shift hypothesis across five ecological threats: unemployment, immigration, racial diversity, COVID-19, and violent crime, more than has been examined previously. Second, we test whether, in line with political personality theories, openness to experience and conscientiousness predict who is likely to shift to the right in the face of threat and who is not. In one nationally representative panel study from the Netherlands ( N = 11,189) and one nationally representative repeated cross-sectional study in the United States ( N = 9,040), we find minimal support for the conservative shift hypothesis and theories that predict personality-based individual differences in ideological responses to threat.

Invoking ethnic identity in the service of right-wing rhetoric: an analysis of 2022 Latina republican candidates in South Texas

Abstract Growing identification by U.S. Latines with the Republican Party has been of interest since the 2020 presidential election, especially in South Texas. This article presents a rhetorical criticism of three Republican Latina candidates for Congress in the 2022 midterms. Utilizing Latine rhetorical criticism of their campaign ads, we identify the strategic deployment of conservative ethnic identity that disavows racialized identity through anti-immigrant rhetoric. Instead of moderating anti-immigration discourse, as has been suggested by observers on how to attract Latine voters, these candidates instead redirect the immigrant threat narrative towards other subgroups of Latines. Also key in the deployment of ethnic identity for right-wing appeals is the construction of a political persona that emphasizes traditional Latine gender roles in the service of political activism. Finally, there is a mystification of the underlying reasons for economic precarity that is nevertheless based on local histories of exploitation in South Texas.

A Critical Discourse Analysis of Joe Biden’s First Speech as President in 2020

This research article endeavors to apply the CDA (Critical Discourse Analysis) model by Norman Fairclough to reveal the political identities and distinct ideologies of the United States' political personalities. The U.S. has always been drowned in different leadership and especially race/color discrimination crises. This paper presents the CDA of the presidential-elect inaugural speech of Joe Biden after the historical U.S. election of 2020. This speech was delivered on 7th November 2020. Like all modified academic disciplines, CDA is developed as an advanced academic discipline. The present research article stands on the base of Norman Fairclough's three-dimensional analytical model. Applying Fairclough’s 3D framework helps examine the ground political ideology of the speech. Analysis of linguistic choices has been examined at the first level and discourse practice of the text at the second level. The third level examined sociocultural practices. The underlying aim of this research paper was to examine the linguistic resources the speaker used. It also aims to examine Joe Biden’s political ideology behind his speech. This study lays out an impetus for further research in this field by providing initial grounds for it.

More transparency, more trust: Evidence from anti‐corruption campaign in China

AbstractA large body of literature has emphasized the importance of trust in the process of modernization and marketization due to its key role in reducing transaction cost, coordinating interpersonal relationships, and maintaining social harmony, limited attentions have been paid to the political setting. To address this research gap, our study empirically examines the relationship between governmental anti‐corruption effort and individual's trust. The anti‐corruption campaign since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China can serve as an excellent quasi‐natural‐experiment in this study to measure the extent to which governments devotes themselves to control corruption. Using the trace dataset of China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) surveys over the period 2012 to 2016, we find that there is a positive relationship between exposure to anti‐corruption campaign and personal political and social trust. Furthermore, our results suggest that this positive effect will be more pronounced when people are nonparty members and affiliated with rural communities, while more salient for those located in east region of China. This study contributes to the literature on spillover of government corruption by linking anti‐corruption campaign and individual‐level trust. Moreover, we also add values in the literature on the determinants of personal trust by providing political explanation.

Digital political communication through a gender lens: discourses, themes, and inclusive language. A case study of two gender-balanced elections in Andalusia: 2018 and 2022

Electoral campaigns are particularly significant moments for identifying the available political options. Social media campaigns have become universal, and every candidate seeks to showcase their proposals and distinct political personality. The main goal of this article is to examine electoral political communication on social media platforms through a gender perspective. We analyze the messages posted on X (formerly Twitter) by candidates during the last two election campaigns in Andalusia. With a total sample of 2,196 posts, we applied quantitative content analysis and binary logistic regression, in addition to qualitative discourse análisis to a subset of the sample. We aim to identify how, where, when and by whom issues pertaining to women as a collective, feminism, gender, or the use of egalitarian language are introduced into two campaigns characterized by gender-balanced representation of candidates. Our findings indicate a limited use of inclusive language and infrequent foregrounding of women in discourse. Nonetheless, gender is a significant explanatory factor for a more inclusive communication style toward women, alongside an explicit emphasis on addressing policies affecting women.

Hybridity and Paradox: The Cultural Bridge of Gen Z (A Critical Multimodal Discourse Analysis on the X Account @Aniesbubble)

Social media, such as Twitter, enable immediate and delayed interaction with a wide audience. Online personas of political figures, such as the X account @aniesbubble, are in the spotlight in the 2024 election campaign, especially in attracting the attention of potential young voters in Indonesia. This research aims to ana-lyze the critical multimodal discourse on X @aniesbubble account in the context of the 2024 election political campaign. The main focus is to understand how multimodal ele-ments are used to shape opinions and interactions with audiences, as well as the implica-tions of using this strategy in cultural and political contexts. This research uses a qualita-tive method with a multimodal critical discourse analysis approach. The main data was taken from the X @aniesbubble account in the time period before the general election until the determination of the election winner. The analysis was conducted based on Norman Fairclough's theory, which includes three levels of analysis: text, discursive practice and social praxis. Additional data was obtained from relevant books, news articles, and journal articles. The research found that the @aniesbubble X account succeeded in creating an authentic and attractive political persona for the younger generation through the use of glocalization and cultural hybridity strategies. The account also demonstrates the dynamic interaction between global and local influences, and is able to convert social capital into economic capital through the active participation of fans. The findings suggest that social media plays an important role in shaping political and cultural narratives.

Элита и процесс ее воспроизводства в трудах Н. И. Кареева: актуальные аспекты социологического анализа

The article deals with the peculiarities of sociological views on the nature and role of elite strata in society of one of the outstanding Russian thinkers N. I. Kareev. His work and methodological positions defended by him cause ambiguous assessments among researchers of different scientific schools and directions. In his works he touched upon quite important and relevant problems of methodological foundations and principles of development, as well as the role of sociology, its interaction with other humanitarian and social sciences, first of all, history, scientific foundations of the theory of progress, the essence of social and historical process, social activity and the role of personality in these processes. The elite problematics was one of the important directions in his research. Declaring the principles of scientific analysis peculiar to positivism, but at the same time not refusing to use some other approaches, including some ideas of the subjective school in sociology, he presents his vision of the nature of the elite. Also, like one of the founders of the theory of elites V. Pareto, he identifies and characterizes two basic elite strata – the ruling elite and the stratum deprived of power, but having important social indicators, comprising heterogeneous groups of outstanding political figures, heroes, and major political personalities. This paper also draws attention to the analysis of the basic characteristics of the elite and the conditions of its reproduction. It is noted that developing the humanistic, value (meritocratic) approach, N. I. Kareev pays attention to such an important factor in the reproduction of elites as education.

The personalization of government: concept and comparative analysis

ABSTRACT The personalization of politics is one of the most important political phenomena of our time. Following the decline of traditional party government, various political systems have seen a radical shift of power from collective to individual actors. In this context, one of the main forms of the personalization of politics is the personalization of government. Heads of government have become more central to democratic executives due to their direct relationship with citizens, their greater control over government action, and structural changes in the institutional setting in which they operate. Although a large body of comparative evidence seems to support this trend, the existing literature has not yet offered a precise conceptual lens through which to do a detailed analysis of this transformation over time. This article introduces the concept of “monocratic government” as a way to study the personalization of government in terms of the ability of leaders to create consensus and use their powers effectively, and to analyse other contextual factors such as the party-system and executive-legislative relations. The last section analyses the Italian Republic over different time periods, paving the way for further comparative analysis.

How institutions do (not) contain personalized politics: centralized personalization in a decentralized electoral system

ABSTRACT The Danish general election in 2022 appeared to foster a paradox: the campaign was remarkably personalized, while voters were less likely to vote for an individual candidate compared to the last five elections. Personalization in the campaign did not seem to spill over to voting behaviour. The study argues and shows using register and survey data that institutional barriers limited the direct expression of personalized electoral behaviour, but voters strongly motivated by political leaders compensated by casting party list votes. The true paradox of the Danish election was that decreasing preferential votes actually reflected increasing personalization, concentrating personal votes in the hands of party leaders. This finding speaks to a general concern about how different arenas of political personalization interact. It suggests that political institutions can only partly contain the personalization of politics because political actors – elites as well as ordinary voters – navigate within the given institutions to maximize their personalized political preferences, finding opportunities to compensate for the institutional barriers. Democracies must, therefore, consider institutional designs as well as political cultures when meeting the possible challenges posed by increased personalization of politics.

Combining Natural Language Processing and Statistical Methods to Assess Gender Gaps in the Mediated Personalization of Politics

The media attention to the personal sphere of famous and important individuals has become a key element of the gender narrative. In this setting, we aim at assessing gender gaps in the mediated personalization of a wide range of political office holders in Italy during the period 2017–2020 by means of a combination of NLP and statistical methods. The proposed analysis hinges on the definition of a new score for each word in the corpus that adjusts the incidence rate for the under representation of women in politics. On this basis, evidence is found that political personalization in Italy is more detrimental for women than it is for men, with the persistence of entrenched stereotypes including a masculine connotation of leadership, the resulting women’s unsuitability to hold political functions, and a greater deal of focus on their attractiveness and body parts. In addition, women politicians are covered with a more negative tone than their men counterpart when personal details are reported. By distinguishing between different types of media, we also show that the observed gender differences are primarily found in online news rather than print news. This suggests that the expression of certain stereotypes may be favored when click baiting and personal targeting have a major impact.

Party affiliation predicts homeowners’ decisions to install solar PV, but partisan gap wanes with improved economics of solar

The perceived risk of climate change and the sense of urgency for an energy transition are both politically polarized, especially in the United States. Yet, we know relatively little about how political polarization affects consumer energy preferences and behaviors. Here, we use the case of residential solar photovoltaics (PV) in New York State to 1) measure the partisan gap in solar adoption rates and 2) test whether more favorable economics of solar PV mute the effect of political identity. Using household-level, longitudinal data that include nearly 63,000 completed residential PV projects, we find evidence of a partisan gap in PV adoption. Democratic homeowners are approximately 1.45 times as likely to adopt solar PV as Republican homeowners. Republicans' rate of adoption is the lowest of all measured groups, behind Independents, unaffiliated voters, and homeowners not registered to vote. Crucially, however, Republicans in our sample appear to be the most attuned to the changing economics and financing options of solar PV. Our estimates suggest that 1) as homeowners' electricity rate increases relative to its long-run average, the adoption gap between Democ-rats and Republicans narrows, 2) that Republican PV adopters obtain systems with higher expected economic value, and 3) Republicans take greater advantage of alternative financing models, like leases and power purchase agreements, especially when the upfront costs of solar are high. The results demonstrate that political identity affects consumers' participation in the energy transition, but local context, including the local economics of solar, may mitigate the effect of personal politics.

Tanah tak Bertuan: Volatilitas dan Stabilitas Elektoral di Jawa Barat Pasca Ode Baru

The changing power of political parties is one of the most important phenomena studied in democratic political systems. It can shed light on the extent to which political parties are connected to voters, the strengthening or weakening of party institutionalisation, the influence of personalities in politics, the influence of electoral and party institutional design, and so on. Studies on political party change (electoral volatility and stability) have been conducted comparatively, and some studies are conducted by looking at the national context of Indonesia. However, while studies have been conducted on these issues at the local level, they remain overlooked. This article fills this gap by presenting a description and analysis of electoral volatility and stability in West Java in the post-New Order era. Using the theoretical framework of electoral volatility and stability as well as the theory of party system institutionalisation (PSI), this study proposes three findings: high party turnover; higher electoral volatility in West Java compared to national electoral volatility; more competitive political party competition at the district/city level in West Java. The findings on electoral volatility, stability and competition are influenced by the restrictions of political party regulations, which have an impact on the decreasing number of political parties in elections, the personalisation of politics and the presidentialisation of politics, as well as the historical roots of the old-established parties that have been entrenched since the New Order era.

Mediatization and Mystique. Volodymyr Zelensky’s Self-Presentation on Instagram

RESEARCH OBJECTIVE: This study uses mediatization theory and Goffman’s concept of self-presentation to explain the inseparable role of social media in the rise of Volodymyr Zelensky in Ukrainian politics and, since the Russian invasion, world consciousness. From the start, his political persona has been governed far more by media logic than political calculation, although the former has translated into the latter. THE RESEARCH PROBLEM AND METHODS: The analysis explores how Zelensky develops an iconic communication style through visual framing and other mediation techniques. Towards this end, we conduct a visual content analysis of images posted to his official Instagram account across three points in time: his candidacy, presidency before the invasion, and first year of the invasion. 100 images are sampled from each time period and subjected to detailed visual and nonverbal analysis. THE PROCESS OF ARGUMENTATION: Employing framing theory and Goffman’s notion of self-presentation, the study explains the Ukrainian leader’s skillful use of visual and nonverbal messaging to project an image of an everyman president and, beginning with the February 2022 invasion, emergent soldier-in-chief. The analysis also shows how specific visual appeals (e.g., facial expressions, Ukrainian symbols) and background settings influence Zelensky’s presentation over time. RESEARCH RESULTS: Results show how the inclusion of more political, and then diplomatic and military, elites in posts during his presidency and year one of the invasion positions Zelensky as a recognized leader while solidifying his status as soldier-in-chief. Indeed, the ubiquity and universality of his soldier persona have become a widely recognized symbol of the fight for democratic freedom. CONCLUSIONS, INNOVATIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS: The study illustrates how Zelensky utilizes social media, Instagram in particular, as a platform for compelling self-presentation while communicating a message of national unity and resolve. His ubiquitous media presence has introduced a new perspective on leadership during wartime.

Royal Fabrics: The Politics of Apparel in Tudor England as Reflected in Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall Trilogy

Costumes played a significant role at the royal courts of King Henry VIII, and courtiers maintained scrupulous cautiousness regarding their presentability and dress. Theatricality is a persistent trope in Mantel’s Neo-Tudor novels, often exercised through strategically displayed extravagant fabrics. This study interprets the clothing culture at the courts of King Henry VIII, as represented in the three Wolf Hall novels. As social classes became increasingly stratified during the Renaissance, the bourgeoisie distinguished themselves from the commoners and sustained inclusivity into the monarchical elite by enacting strategic theatricality. This paper demonstrates how the theatricality of magnificence was performed through the politics of apparel, ornamentation, and distinguished fashion. Referring to works by John Matusiak, Tracy Borman, Maria Hayward, and Elizabeth Currie, this study argues that fashion was at the core of Royal Tudor governance, and Mantel utilises this trope to camouflage or amplify the magnitude of a political persona. In the context of the Tudor Sumptuary Laws, this paper also analyses how Mantel used dress as a motif of theatricality to demonstrate class segregation during sixteenth-century England. The gendering of clothes and its political ramifications shall be another issue tackled by this paper, focusing on the sartorial choices of the characters of Anne Boleyn, Katherine, and Jane Seymour.

Attachment and Political Personality are Heritable and Distinct Systems, and Both Share Genetics with Interpersonal Trust and Altruism

The attachment and caregiving domains maintain proximity and care-giving behavior between parents and offspring, in a way that has been argued to shape people’s mental models of how relationships work, resulting in secure, anxious or avoidant interpersonal styles in adulthood. Several theorists have suggested that the attachment system is closely connected to orientations and behaviors in social and political domains, which should be grounded in the same set of familial experiences as are the different attachment styles. We use a sample of Norwegian twins (N = 1987) to assess the genetic and environmental relationship between attachment, trust, altruism, right-wing authoritarianism (RWA), and social dominance orientation (SDO). Results indicate no shared environmental overlap between attachment and ideology, nor even between the attachment styles or between the ideological traits, challenging conventional wisdom in developmental, social, and political psychology. Rather, evidence supports two functionally distinct systems, one for navigating intimate relationships (attachment) and one for navigating social hierarchies (RWA/SDO), with genetic overlap between traits within each system, and two distinct genetic linkages to trust and altruism. This is counter-posed to theoretical perspectives that link attachment, ideology, and interpersonal orientations through early relational experiences.

Personalized Politics in Traditional and Social Media: The Case of the 2019 Finnish Parliamentary Elections

Personalization of politics is a well-established field of research, yet not much is known about how the phenomenon has been influenced by the increased use of social media as a tool for political communication. In this research we analyze media personalization in newspapers and on social media posts of parties and party leaders during the 2019 Finnish parliamentary elections. Combining quantitative and qualitative content analysis, we find that a) personalized content was more common in newspapers than on social media, and b) the contexts of personalized content were largely similar regardless of media type, suggesting it may be more relevant to speak of “hybrid media personalization” rather than “traditional media personalization” and “social media personalization”. These findings are linked to broader discussions on personalization of politics and the use of social media as a political communication tool.