Formation Of Political Attitudes Research Articles

Regional manufacturing composition and political (dis)content in Europe

ABSTRACT This article examines the relationship between changes in manufacturing employment and political discontent in European regions, using a multilevel hybrid model and data from the European Social Survey and European Commission. The analysis reveals that within regions, a decrease in manufacturing jobs leads to greater political discontent, but this relationship is not observed when comparing variation in manufacturing levels across regions. Additionally, the analysis demonstrates that this discontent manifests more as dissatisfaction with the government, rather than distrust in political institutions and actors. Native-born, lower social classes and individuals living in rural areas display more discontent, even after considering material factors. The study highlights the role of declining social status and identity threats due to manufacturing job losses as a likely driver of political discontent. It calls for more research on the effects of manufacturing transitions in Europe on the formation of political attitudes among various social groups.

Strategies for Studying the Political Trust of Youth in Modern Political Science

The article examines the main approaches to assessing and measuring political trust used by Russian and foreign scientists in conducting empirical research in 2018-2022. The authors proceed from one of the accepted in the social sciences understanding of methodology as a set of methods of used for analysis. In this regard, the purpose of the paper is to systematize methods for measuring and evaluating political trust and determining the relevance of their application in the study of youth as a specific socio-demographic group. The relevance of the study is related to the tendency of some scientists to associate the youth political trust with the character of political regime in a particular state and the potential for its transformation. The analysis of scientific literature revealed that the main methods of obtaining information on the topic of political trust are mass surveys and expert interviews. The most important component of studying this area is the comparison of the mechanisms for the formation of political attitudes of various social groups in states with different types of political regimes. The article substantiates the need to develop narrowly focused methods for studying the youth political trust, since a number of studies show the specificity of the formation and individual indicators of this setting of the political consciousness of generations Y and Z. In particular, there is a significant differentiation in the levels of institutional and personalized political trust among different subgroups of young people, a large variability of this political attitude, with a relatively low awareness of real political processes, the desire to articulate rational grounds for the formation of trust. A systematic study of these features of the youth political trust requires the use of a more complex, combining elements of quantitative and qualitative analysis tools than is currently used in empirical studies. It is necessary to develop special methods of analysis based on an integrated approach that combines mix-methods of research. The information obtained with the help of the updated methodology on the state and characteristics of the youth political trust seems to be a significant basis for the formation of strategies for the interaction of government institutions with this socio-demographic group, which is of fundamental importance for the sustainable development of modern states.

Shift in Public Opinion Formations on Defense, Energy, and Migration: The Case of Russia’s War Against Ukraine

Abstract Russia’s war on Ukraine came as a shock to the Western world. In this context, the study of public opinion change is crucial for understanding the dynamics of political attitudes and societal polarization. Using Germany as an exemplary case study, we investigate how public opinion changed regarding defense, energy supply, and migration as three crucial policy domains in the first year of the war. Using a representative eight-wave online panel survey study, we map attitudes in the general population and among supporters of different parties, tracing their development over time. Our analyses lead to two key insights: First, attitudes toward defense, energy supply, and migration remained remarkably stable over time. Second, we found a high degree of consensus across the partisan spectrum. Only the supporters of the far-right populist party systematically diverged from the general population, and this discrepancy grew larger over time. Our findings contribute significantly to the understanding of political attitude formation and processes of social polarization along cleavages in times of abrupt societal change.

Emotions and Media: Emotional Regime and Emotional Factors of Selective Exposure

The central objective of this research is to describe the role of emotions in their interaction with the media. It examines how selective exposure to the media is linked to how political emotions influence this process. The research reveals an emotional fracture in media consumers through anger. It is also observed that positive emotions towards leaders and political parties are activated in like-minded media consumers, whereas negative emotions arise when interacting with oppositely oriented media. The importance of positive emotions such as hope and their contrast with negative aversive emotions is highlighted. This study shows how political emotions influence the interaction between citizens and the media. The findings highlight the relevance of emotions in the formation of political attitudes and the configuration of media preferences, contributing to the discussion on the relationship between the media and emotions in contemporary society.

Nationalities relations in a totalitarian state. The case of East Central Europe under Soviet occupation (1939-1941) – methodological issues and a research agenda

The aim of the article is to present the specific nature of research on the issues of national relations in a totalitarian state based on the example of the lands of Central and Eastern Europe under the Soviet occupation from 1939-1941. In order to achieve this, the literature on the subject (in English and Polish) was reviewed as well as the most important methodological problems encountered by researchers. The research program was also outlined, along with a proposal for their conceptualization in the form of signalling the main aspects of the above-mentioned issues, including the specificity of the Soviet occupation of 1939-1941, social and ethnic relations in this area, and the Soviet nationalities policy. Several research methods and postulates were proposed, as well as perspectives and theoretical approaches that could facilitate the study of this complex and controversial subject, e.g., the interdisciplinary nature of research, methods of bottom-up formation of political attitudes of the population (the so-called “bottom-up” method), application of theories of the totalitarian state, and different theories of ethnicity. As a result, an interdisciplinary program of comparative studies of ethnic relations in Central and Eastern Europe under Soviet rule (1939-1941) was outlined, taking into account the transnational character of historical processes and the need to conduct micro historic analyses and case studies that would allow capturing of the diversity of ethnic relations and verify the effectiveness of the policy of the central Soviet authorities. The article argues that it seems obvious that the specificity of the analysed problematics can be properly grasped only by consideration it in the historical and theoretical context, adopting a comparative and transnational approach, from a micro-historical as well as everyday-life perspective that highlights the most important social factors which facilitated changes in interethnic relations.

Media literacy and national security awareness: The formation of Chinese higher education groups' attitude to the Russia-Ukraine war

With the development of information and communication technology, the opportunities for national citizens to freely participate in the discussion of political issues have been unprecedentedly expanded. Established in citizens' media literacy and national security awareness, this research explores the influence of these factors on media trust (domestic or overseas) and political information access among Chinese higher education groups (CHEG). This paper used the partial least square and structural equation method to discuss the factors that affect the formation of respondents' political attitudes by taking the recent Russia-Ukraine conflict as an example. The result shows that for CHEG, media literacy plays a positive role in their political information contact but does not affect their trust and choice of domestic and foreign media. Meanwhile, national security awareness also plays a positive role in their political information contact and the trust of domestic media. From the perspective of respondents' political attitudes, the more national security awareness and media literacy they have, the more they support Russia. On the contrary, the reduced awareness of national security makes them more willing to choose foreign media and therefore more supportive of Ukraine. In general, this paper reveals the important influence of national security awareness on the formation of political attitudes and illustrates the critical role of national ideological propaganda.

The Political Consequences of Be(com)ing Mindful. How Mindfulness Might Affect Political Attitudes

Though research provides ample evidence that mindfulness shapes psychological processes and states that are linked to political attitudes and behavior, political science has so far largely ignored mindfulness as a potential explanatory factor shaping political attitudes and actions. This literature review aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the concept of mindfulness and outlines potential linkages between mindfulness and outlines political attitudes. I begin by identifying gaps in the literature on political attitude formation and change as well as its linkage to political behavior. I then introduce mindfulness as a multifaceted concept, discussing its definitional features and unravelling the mechanisms of mindfulness affecting cognitive and emotional abilities. Building on this foundation, I review research on correlates and effects of mindfulness on attitudes and behaviors related to the political domain, such as pro-environmentalism and pro-social behavior. Critically reflecting on extant research on mindfulness, I propose possible research avenues for political science that enhance its dialogue with neuroscience and social psychology.

Влияние академической среды на формирование политических установок студентов: опыт социологического исследования

Presented is the study of the role of the academic environment in the formation of political attitudes of modern Russian students on the example of the city of Yaroslavl. The theoretical interpretation of the political attitude is presented. The definition of political attitudes, structure, typology and functions are disclosed. The material presented in the article is based on the results of the author's sociological study of the political attitudes of students, primarily through the study of the university environment as a factor in the formation of political attitudes. The political involvement of students, their protest moods, electoral behavior, political views, trust in political institutions and leaders, popular sources of political information among students, social activity and other aspects are analyzed. The results of the study showed that the influence of the academic environment on the political attitudes of students is rather moderate. It was found that academic performance, the level of student social activity, the faculty of education do not have a significant impact on the political orientations of students. Communication with other students and teachers is essential. Moreover, the influence of teachers and disciplines of a socio-political orientation rather leads to an increase in political literacy and greater involvement of students in the political sphere.

Bellavista: Political Incorporation in a Columbian Urban Barrio

The locus of the study is an established lower-class mestizo neighbourhood (formerly a squatter settlement) on the margin of a city in the coffee-producing departamento of Caldas, Columbia. The residents exhibit considerable diversity in productive occupations, including both rural and urban, skilled and unskilled labour. The political behaviour of barrio residents appears as several isolated networks between which there is very little interaction. While general distrust in the benefits of political participation is a commonly-expressed sentiment, on an individual basis vertical patronage hierarchies which channel jobs and favours in exchange for votes are an important social mechanism incorporating the barrio residents into national political activities. But these vertical networks significantly increase the difficulty of achieving concensus in working toward community goals. The role of the political broker is central to the ongoing formation of political attitudes in the barrio.

Economic Self-Interest and Americans’ Redistributive, Class, and Racial Attitudes: The Case of Economic Insecurity

An influential body of research on American public opinion since the mid-1980s has found economic self-interest to be, at best, inconsistently and weakly related to social and political attitude formation. This article argues that this conclusion is related to a dearth of analysis of the potential effect of economic insecurity on American public opinion. It is argued that respondents’ perceptions of their own economic insecurity capture the extent to which not acting self-interestedly can result in hardship-causing economic loss. Empirically, it is shown—through standard regression techniques and more stringent coarsened exact matching (CEM)—that economic insecurity has a systematic and strong effect on the redistributive, class, and racial attitudes of Americans; an effect that often rivals or supersedes the effect of sociotropic and symbolic attitudes. It is also shown that affective economic insecurity—one’s worry or anxiety regarding the potential of future economic hardship—and cognitive economic insecurity—an individual’s more or less dispassionate estimate of future economic hardship—often have distinct and complementary effects in determining public opinion, even when both measures are included in the same model. The evidence presented here makes it clear that existing measures and conceptualizations of economic self-interest—and the body of empirical work that discounts economic factors in American public opinion—need to be rethought in light of economic insecurity.

On the formation of a culture of public policy: the role of civic education

This article examines possible ways and means of forming a culture of public policy among citizens of a democratic state. The factors that have a direct impact on the formation and consolidation of political attitudes and political orientations in the consciousness of the individual were identified. The article provides a list of civic competencies that underlie the political culture of the population, a high level of which is necessary for the successful and sustainable functioning of a modern democratic political system. It is established that civic education is the main element of the education system, responsible for the formation of political attitudes and political orientations (corresponding to the environment), and hence the political culture of citizens.

ПОЛІТИЧНІ УЯВЛЕННЯ НАСЕЛЕННЯ УКРАЇНСЬКИХ ЗЕМЕЛЬ ПРО МІЖНАРОДНІ ВІДНОСИНИ (1950–1960)

The article examines the state of the political views of the USSR population in the transition of the totalitarian and authoritarian regimes in 1950–1960’s. The research attention is drawn to trends in the formation of political attitudes regarding the aggravation of the international situation and prospects for the beginning of a new world war. The possibility of the hostilities outbreak in 1950–1960’s has been widely discussed by almost all strata of the Soviet society. This contributed to the reports in the Soviet media. Ideas about the methods of warfare with a very weak understanding of the nuclear war nature and the development of the nuclear weapons strategic carriers focused the people on the view about the future war as a battle primarily of land armies. In the early 1950’s, the discussion of international relations in the Ukrainian society occurred, as a rule, in connection with the determination of their influence on possibility of hostilities resumption in the world. Archival documents indicate that the population did not always perceive the arms race, in which the Soviet Union supplied solely as a means to resist the aggressive actions of the Western countries. At the same time, the fear of a future war grew due to the warning of losing the benefits of a peaceful life. The overall strengthening of the arms race with the prospect of a new world war was not delighted in the absolute majority of the population. The desire to preserve the peaceful life dominated the political moods of the Ukrainian population.

The Spillovers of Competition: Value-based Activism and Political Cross-fertilization in an Indian Campus

The recent spur of student-led mobilizations in India led to the portrayal of select public universities as the epitome of resistance, dissent and countercultural politics. Departing from essentialist approaches to student politics, this article outlines the processes by which campus spaces activate the formation of political attitudes among participants. It builds on an archival and ethnographic account of educated youth politics in one of the most politicized universities in the country, Jawaharlal Nehru University. I suggest that everyday political competition among student organizations is a central condition for the development of dissonant political participation, as it enables both inter-cohort political socialization and the spilling over of ideological idioms to the sociologically diverse student groups on campus. I argue that mechanisms of political outbidding sustained by politically enterprising student collectives nurture value-based dissent by continually emulating political counter-narratives while fostering ideational cross-fertilization.

Diaspora Externalities

Abstract This review article surveys the recent economic literature on diaspora networks, globalization, and development. Diasporas are shown to contribute to the economic and cultural integration of source (i.e., developing) countries into the global economy. I first review the effect of diaspora networks on core globalization outcomes such as trade, foreign investments, and the diffusion of knowledge and technology across borders. I then turn to the cultural and political sway of the diaspora, investigating the impact of emigration on the formation of political attitudes, fertility behavior, and other aspects of culture in the home country.

Black Americans and the “crime narrative”: comments on the use of news frames and their impacts on public opinion formation

ABSTRACTNews framing choices remain critical components in the formation of political attitudes and public opinion. Early findings, which indicated that episodic framing of national issues like poverty and unemployment informed public opinion about minority group members, asserted that these framing choices often resulted in the attribution of societal ills to individuals rather than society at-large. Moving this analytical framework into the twenty-first century, I engage with literature on racial messaging to show that shifting social norms surrounding implicit versus explicit racism have transformed the ways that news frames function in mass media. As such, this essay examines the canonical theory of news frames as falling along a thematic-episodic continuum. Fundamentally, I argue that implicit and explicit racial messaging in news media coverage of crime could change the way viewers form opinions of Black Americans and criminality. Thus, it is critical to revisit longstanding theories of news frames to accommodate the present political moment.

Investigating the roots of political disengagement of young Greek Cypriots

ABSTRACTThis study attempted to disentangle the issues underlying the marked drop recorded in political engagement of young Greek Cypriots. To reveal the dynamic processes through which people debate, disagree or convince each other towards the formation of political attitudes, eight focus-groups were carried out with a total of forty participants, equally distributed according to age and gender. The analysis showed that young Greek Cypriots appear uncertain for their future, pessimistic, cynical, and highly disillusioned with traditional politics. Contrary to what is observed in other European countries, young Greek Cypriots do not experiment with alternative forms of political action, remain inactive, and although the country's politicised culture of the past is still reflected in their theoretical discussions about social issues, they express embarrassment and confusion when asked to elaborate on how theory could be transformed into practice. They associate politics with corruption and economic interests, they are scornfully disillusioned with the European Union, and they emotionally distance themselves from important changes to come with the possible reunification of Cyprus. Young Greek Cypriots appear insecure, pessimistic, disoriented, uninspired, and in an urgent need to rediscover passion for ideas which they cannot any more find in traditional politics and forms of political action.

Važnost vrijednosnog uokvirivanja u procesu političke komunikacije: studija slučaja o utjecaju vrijednosnog uokvirivanja na formiranje političkih stavova gledatelja televizijskih vijesti u Češkoj Republici

This article explores the meaning of valence-framing theory in political communication. It examines the influence of valence frames on the formation of political attitudes among the public. The valence-framing effect is derived from the information context value (positive, negative) and applies if people’s attitudes towards a certain subject match the context value of the information received. The article presents a case study of reports during the crisis of Mirek Topolanek’s government in the Czech Republic in 2009. It examines to what extent the context of the statements on the Czech news concerning the parliamentary parties Civic Democratic Party (ODS, leader Mirek Topolanek) and the Czech Social Democratic Party (CSSD, leader Jiři Paroubek) related to the existing political attitudes of their prospective audiences. The article argues that the valence-framing effect was more evident in the public broadcasting programme Udalosti CT than the commercial programme Televizni noviny, a paradox which can be explained by the unique link between the attributes of the Czech media environment and the political opinions of their viewers.

The Behavioral Immune System Shapes Political Intuitions: Why and How Individual Differences in Disgust Sensitivity Underlie Opposition to Immigration

We present, test, and extend a theoretical framework that connects disgust, a powerful basic human emotion, to political attitudes through psychological mechanisms designed to protect humans from disease. These mechanisms work outside of conscious awareness, and in modern environments, they can motivate individuals to avoid intergroup contact by opposing immigration. We report a meta-analysis of previous tests in the psychological sciences and conduct, for the first time, a series of tests in nationally representative samples collected in the United States and Denmark that integrate the role of disgust and the behavioral immune system into established models of emotional processing and political attitude formation. In doing so, we offer an explanation for why peaceful integration and interaction between ethnic majority and minorities is so hard to achieve.

Justice Concerns Can Feed Nationalistic Concerns and Impede Solidarity in the Euro Crisis: How Victim Sensitivity Translates into Political Attitudes

We investigated how victim sensitivity and news media exposure conjointly contribute to the formation of political attitudes in the context of the euro crisis. Study 1 (N = 208) showed that observer-sensitive individuals were more likely and victim-sensitive individuals were less likely to support solidarity with countries in need of financial support. These correlations were mediated by affective components of political attitudes, namely nationalistic concerns, resentment about and empathic concerns with debtor countries. In Study 2 (N = 51), using a pre–post within-subjects design, we showed that framing the euro crisis in an ‘exploitation frame” (compared to a ‘solidarity frame’) in news media reports was more likely to trigger nationalistic concerns and, consequently, decrease support of solidarity in victim-sensitive individuals compared to their less victim-sensitive counterparts. These results are in line with the SeMI model and previous findings that victim sensitivity is linked to fear of being exploited in intergroup relations.

Social Capital and Quality of Democracy Revisited in a Comparative Perspective

To what extent, if any, does social capital contribute to the democratic formation of citizens´attitudes? It is a major influence among several others or just a minor one when it comes to forming political attitudes? This paper provides an empirical answer to these questions, drawing from the 2010 European Social Survey questionnaire. Its first section includes a discussion about the quality of democarcy in the culturalist approach of Political Science. The following section addresses the operationalization of the concept of quality of democracy and its main dimensions, with particular attention to social accountability. It then seeks to relate the concepts of social accountability as a pivotal dimension of the quality of democracy and social capital as formulated By Robert Putman. We used a multivariate regression analysis to test our hypotheses, which focus on whether the components that make up social capital have a differentiated impact on the formation of political attitudes, i.e. on the degree of satisfaction with democracy and trust in political institutions in old and new democracies.Key-Words: Quality of Democracy, Social Accountability, Social Capital, Satisfaction with Democracy, Trust in Political Institutions.