ECPR

Install the app

Install this application on your home screen for quick and easy access when you’re on the go.

Just tap Share then “Add to Home Screen”

All the Same?

Political Psychology
Populism
Identity
Communication
Felix Grünewald
Technische Universität Chemnitz
Felix Grünewald
Technische Universität Chemnitz

Abstract

Outgroup homogeneity, a well-known concept in psychology, refers to the tendency to perceive members of other social groups as more similar to one another and as representatives of their group, rather than unique individuals. This phenomenon has relevance to modern political science, particularly in the context of affective polarization, which, characterized by strong emotional divides between political groups, is rooted in group identities and stereotype formation. Therefore unsurprisingly, the perception of political outgroup homogeneity is linked to negative feelings toward opposing groups. Beyond that, also populist rhetoric with its oversimplified categorizations of “the elites”, "politicians" or "the media" serves as another example of this dynamic. This paper puts the focus on how homogeneity perception might play an important mediating role between the communication of political groups and the affective identities they constitute. Specifically, I want to investigate whether changes in political campaigning have diluted the differences between political parties and therefore helped fuel negative sentiments in the political sphere. The increasing professionalization of political campaigning has led to a shift toward highly personified advertising. I examine whether the presence of substantive political information in campaign materials has diminished over time by using text and image classification of campaigning materials. This data is then supplemented with experimental designs and analyses of historical panel data to determine whether first, reduced informativeness of campaigns has driven homogeneity perception by de-emphasizing party differences and second, whether stronger homogeneity perception can be linked to negative sentiments to specific and general political groups. The findings may suggest that short-term electoral gains achieved through personified, low-information campaigning could have long-term drawbacks, increasing outgroup homogeneity perception and affective polarization. Enhancing substantial differentiation between parties could strengthen the electorate’s belief in democratic competition and shift political opposition from blanket rejection of entire groups to issue-based disagreement with specific parties.