Prevalence and Impact of Hate Speech among Politicians in Switzerland

Politicians may be particularly vulnerable to hate speech because of their public visibility and exposure to deviating opinions. They play a critical role in the functioning of a democratic system, and therefore, hate speech poses a potential threat because it can impede politicians’ freedom of expression or even lead politicians to resign from office. However, little is known about the prevalence and impact of hate speech targeting politicians. We therefore surveyed the politicians in the Canton of Zurich, Switzerland, 667 of whom participated (39.8% response rate). The prevalence of hate speech experiences was 29.7% in their total time as politicians and 20.6% in the past 12 months. Participants who had held a political office for longer and were affiliated with a political party on the poles of the political spectrum were more susceptible. Crucially, 29.4% of the affected politicians had contemplated resigning from politics due to hate speech. Thus, our study underlines a need for action. As the participants indicated they wanted to deal with hate speech as little as possible but still desired some form of intervention, political measures should strive for intervention options that require minimal contributions from the victims.

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150 Psychologie

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ISO 690

ALBRECHT, Joelle, Jérôme ENDRASS, Michal DREIFUSS, Nina SCHNYDER, Astrid ROSSEGGER, 2024. Prevalence and Impact of Hate Speech among Politicians in Switzerland. In: Societies. MDPI. 2024, 14(7), 98. eISSN 2075-4698. Verfügbar unter: doi: 10.3390/soc14070098

BibTex

@article{Albrecht2024-06-27Preva-70375,
  year={2024},
  doi={10.3390/soc14070098},
  title={Prevalence and Impact of Hate Speech among Politicians in Switzerland},
  number={7},
  volume={14},
  journal={Societies},
  author={Albrecht, Joelle and Endrass, Jérôme and Dreifuss, Michal and Schnyder, Nina and Rossegger, Astrid},
  note={Article Number: 98}
}

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