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2018 | Buch

How Is Terrorism Changing Us?

Threat Perception and Political Attitudes in the Age of Terror

verfasst von: Matteo Vergani

Verlag: Springer Singapore

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This book examines how the perception of terrorism threat erodes civil liberties, sows doubt about the loyalties of immigrants, and heightens the left-right ideological divide. The book presents original analysis of survey data and experiments conducted in Australia, Europe and the United States.
Research in the book posits questions that others have largely avoided: How does the threat of terrorist violence undermine multicultural democracies? What are the psychological and social mechanisms that explain how the threat of terrorism can change political attitudes? What is the relationship between terrorism and death threats? What is the role of media in shaping the perception of terrorism threat? And what are the ethical responsibilities of journalists? This book will help readers distinguish between groundless speculation and solid scientific knowledge of the topic. Moreover, it provides concrete recommendations on how to prevent the most negative consequences of the polarization of political attitudes, such as social divisions, exclusivism and conflict. Given the broad geographical scope of the research presented in the book, specifically North America, Europe and Australia, this book will appeal to broad scope of readers.

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Frontmatter
Chapter 1. Introduction
Abstract
This chapter argues that an exaggerated perception of terrorism threat can affect people’s political attitudes via social versus individual mechanisms. Social mechanisms affect people’s sense of belonging to groups. Individual mechanisms affect the people’s psyche. This chapter discusses the similarities between Europe, Australia and North America as case studies to examine the impact of terrorism threat on political attitudes via social and individual mechanisms. It provides the definition of terrorism that is adopted throughout the volume, followed by an overview of the design, samples, dependent and independent variables used in the empirical studies presented in the book. This chapter concludes with an overview of the volume and chapter outline.
Matteo Vergani
Chapter 2. The Effects of the Perceived Threat of Terrorism on Groups
Abstract
This chapter discusses the existing theoretical approaches and empirical research on the consequences of terrorism threat on group identity. It draws on historical examples and theories developed in the social, psychological and political sciences (such as Social Identity Theory and Self-Categorization Theory) to understand the effects that the threat of terrorism can have on a person’s political attitudes. It discusses whether the actual threat of terrorism is different from other threats such as immigration, economic deprivation or crime. This chapter shows that, in times of threat, people’s need to belong to a group becomes stronger, and as a consequence, aggressive behaviour towards the real or perceived group’s enemies becomes more common.
Matteo Vergani
Chapter 3. Perceived Terrorism Threat and Ideology
Abstract
This chapter presents original analysis of national survey data from Australia, Europe and the United States to show that some ideological groups are more predisposed to perceive an exaggerated threat of terrorism than others. Additionally, this chapter examines if individuals who are concerned about terrorism are also concerned about other issues like crime, immigration and climate change. It then discusses whether right-wing-orientated individuals perceive a higher threat of terrorism than left-wing individuals and whether the perceived threat of terrorism is associated with draconian and anti-system attitudes within both the left-wing and the right-wing electorate. Finally, using data collected in Italy, this chapter discusses whether and how the perceived threat of terrorism can change people’s political attitudes.
Matteo Vergani
Chapter 4. Terrorism and the Media
Abstract
This chapter further expands the theoretical and empirical understanding of the issue by looking at the role of the media in increasing the perception of terrorism threats. This chapter discusses why journalists prioritize terrorism news, even in the face of events of similar or greater destructive magnitude such as natural disasters, accidents and war crimes. It then shows that terrorism threat perception tends to be higher in market-oriented national media systems. Following this, this chapter presents qualitative insights about how internet users discuss terrorism-related news. Finally, a comprehensive model of media exposure and threat perception is tested on a representative sample of Australians.
Matteo Vergani
Chapter 5. Terrorism and Death
Abstract
This chapter considers individual mechanisms to examine the effects of terrorism on political attitudes. The sudden appearance of death in a daily and familiar scenario such as a train station, a crowded promenade or a rock concert makes people think about their own death. Death is a powerful motive of human action, and numerous psychological theories attempt to explain the ways in which the thought of death can affect attitudes and behaviours. This chapter discusses psychological theories (such as Terror Management Theory) and their relevance to understanding the impact of terrorism and related death thoughts on people’s political attitudes, and it formulates theory-consistent hypotheses that will be tested in the next two chapters.
Matteo Vergani
Chapter 6. Terrorism as a Reminder of Mortality
Abstract
This chapter presents a detailed discussion of the results of two experiments using real cases to evoke death thoughts and worldview defence. The first experiment examines the reactions to the exposure to news excerpts relating to flight MH17, which was shot down by a missile over eastern Ukraine en route from Amsterdam to Melbourne. The second experiment looks at the reactions to the thought of the April 2013 Boston marathon bombing. The results show that the salience of the two incidents evokes death thoughts and decreases the study participants’ support for a peer advocating domain-relevant political violence.
Matteo Vergani
Chapter 7. Mortality Salience and Political Violence
Abstract
This chapter presents the results of two experiments conducted in Australia. The experiments ask participants to think about their own death and examine whether individual attitudes (such as political orientation and opinions about immigrants) moderate mortality salience (MS) effects on political attitudes. The findings show that participants exposed to MS increase their belief in religious worldviews and their support for policies that counter extremism through the use of military force. However, no effect is detected on support for extremist statements. The results are counter to the widespread view held by researchers of the psychology of terrorism who suggest that MS can increase support for extremism among non-extremist samples.
Matteo Vergani
Chapter 8. Conclusion
Abstract
This chapter discusses how the threat of terrorism can contribute to pushing democracy to its limits. First, it can increase support for draconian policies and anti-system attitudes. Second, it can exacerbate the differences between ideological and religious groups. Third, it can erode trust between immigrants and host societies. In this concluding chapter, this book’s research findings are interpreted as a whole and mainly discussed against two case studies: the so-called Brexit referendum in the UK and the election of Donald Trump as US president in 2016. Finally, this chapter proposes solutions to prevent the most negative consequences from occurring and proposes a code of terrorism reporting to be adopted by media outlets and journalists.
Matteo Vergani
Backmatter
Metadaten
Titel
How Is Terrorism Changing Us?
verfasst von
Matteo Vergani
Copyright-Jahr
2018
Verlag
Springer Singapore
Electronic ISBN
978-981-10-8066-1
Print ISBN
978-981-10-8065-4
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-8066-1