Tessera
Folgen

Michael Bang Petersen

@m-b-petersen.bsky.social

Auditing the challenges of democracy in the 21st century for the Danish parliament with a particular focus on social media, mistrust and political alienation. Political science professor at Aarhus University, Denmark.

304 Posts6881 Follower456 Folgt
Paul Rosenberg@paulrosenberg.bsky.social · last wk.

🎯🧵"We focus on the role of 'collective action motivation', i.e., the perception of the pandemic response as a valuable collective enterprise.... Stronger collective action motivations (CAM) more strongly predict completing vaccination & recieving a booster"

Michael Bang Petersen@m-b-petersen.bsky.social · last wk.

Vaccination is collective action: Vaccination helps others by hindering disease-spread But there is an incentive free-ride: if enough others vaccinate, you don't need to pay those costs In a new paper, we provide new evidence with data from 6+ mil covid-vaccinations: osf.io/preprints/ps... 🧵1/7

Abstract Classical theories in health psychology explain individuals’ decisions about whether or not to engage in protective behavior such as vaccination during a health emergency as guided by trade-offs about personal risks and benefits. Yet, vaccinations involve a clear collective action component, where individuals can protect others by getting vaccinated, beyond the personal benefits. Following recent research, we develop the argument that individual differences in the motivation to engage in collective action should influence vaccination decisions during the most significant health emergency in the 21st century, the COVID-19 pandemic, above and beyond the predictors proposed by classical theories. We test this argument by combining survey observations from 380,516 unique Danish adults with population-wide registry data on COVID-19 vaccination status for 6.1 million individuals in Denmark, of whom 4.9 million received at least one vaccine dose. Using this unique data infrastructure, we compare classical psychological correlates of protective behavior with psychological measures of individual-differences in collective action motivation. The results demonstrate collective action motivation was more strongly associated with vaccination behavior than threat appraisal or coping appraisal across the vaccination sequence, spanning completion of the recommended primary vaccination course, booster receipt, time to full vaccination, and vaccination uptake among the children of survey respondents. Furthermore, high levels of collective action motivation strongly weakened the role of personal considerations that would otherwise deter vaccination uptake, both in terms of whether or not the individual gets vaccinated and how quickly the individual gets vaccinated. These findings provide important information on the prerequisites of successful vaccination campaigns during major health crises and how governments and authorities can facilitate them.
Kristian Frederiksen@kristianvsf.bsky.social · 4w ago

New public pre-print with @aarslew.bsky.social and Martin Bisgaard 🧵 We introduce a perspective on democratic erosion that focuses on quiet anticipation among political elites: what do they think happens to those who cross a strongman that challenges democracy? www.researchgate.net/publication/...

(PDF) The Imagined Strongman: How Elites Anticipate the Cost of Opposing Trump

PDF | What happens to politicians who speak up against a strongman that challenges democracy? Political scientists typically answer this question using... | Find, read and cite all the research you ne...

researchgate.net

Søren Torbjørn Svendsen@sorentsvendsen.eurosky.social · 2mo ago

Går ud fra @anjabechmann.bsky.social her - til dels - henviser til hendes og @m-b-petersen.bsky.social nye bog i @magtudredningen2.bsky.social bogserien: Når sociale platforme udfordrer demokratiet. Kan købes og hentes som pdf (gratis) her: unipress.dk/udgivelser/n... #dkforsk #dkvid

Michael Bang Petersen og Anja Bechmann Når sociale platforme udfordrer demokratiet Magtudredningen 2.0
Carlsbergfondet@carlsbergfondet.dk · 2mo ago

. @anjabechmann.bsky.social: Vores forskning viser, at vrede og frygt dominerer misinformationsstrømme #dkforsk #fmdk #carlsbergfamilien

Søren Torbjørn Svendsen@sorentsvendsen.eurosky.social · 2mo ago

Apropos 👆 - fin kronik af @m-b-petersen.bsky.social og @anjabechmann.bsky.social "Danske beslutningstagere kan derudover mere generelt fokusere på at sikre robusthed i det danske informationslandskab og samfund, så udfordringerne fra de sociale platforme kan modstås." politiken.dk/del/EG7081AH...

Magtudredningen: De sociale medier udfordrer demokratiet – o

De mørke dynamikker på sociale platforme er en demokratisk udfordring, og den stiger væsentligt, jo større spændinger der er i det omkringliggende samfund. Hvis vi ønsker os et mindre splittet Danmark

politiken.dk

Svend-Erik Skaaning@skaaning.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Three 2-year full-time postdoctoral positions in autocratic politics at the Department of Political Science at Aarhus University (in connection to projects headed by Jakob Tolstrup and Alexander Baturo). Flexible start date. Application deadline: June 1, 2026. international.au.dk/about/profil...

Three 2-year Postdoctoral positions at Aarhus University: Projects on personality cults and strategic communication in autocracies - Vacancy at Aarhus University

Vacancy at Department of Political Science, Aarhus University

international.au.dk

Stinus Lindgreen@stinuslindgreen.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Vi gør klar til anden runde debat om Magtudredningen på Nørrebro Teater. Vi har lige afholdt første halvleg af “Magtens mange former” for nogle hundrede gymnasieelever, og nu tager vi endnu en runde for nogle hundrede nye tilhørere. #dkpol

Bild
Rune Møller Stahl@runestahl.bsky.social · 4mo ago

New study showing that online hatred is worse in countries with higher economic and political inequality. www.nature.com/articles/s41... By @m-b-petersen.bsky.social et al.

Social media users experience more political hostility in less economically equal and less democratic societies - Nature Human Behaviour

Drawing on survey data from 30 countries, Bor et al. find that online political hostility is higher in more unequal and less democratic societies.

nature.com

Jill Walker Rettberg@jilltxt.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Fra den danske maktutredningen (og kollegaer): mer ulikhet og mindre demokrati gir mer aggressive sosiale medier Det er altså ikke bare tek-oligarkene og algoritmene som er problemet. Det gir håp!!

Bild
Michael Bang Petersen@m-b-petersen.bsky.social · 4mo ago

🚨 New in Nature Human Behaviour: www.nature.com/articles/s41... Many prior accounts of social media hostility focus on algorithms. With @boralexander.bsky.social, @a-marie-sci.bsky.social & @leapradella.bsky.social, we use data from 30 countries to focus on the role of societal conditions. 🧵1/7

Mikko Meriläinen @merilainen.bsky.social · 4mo ago

The whole thread about the recent study is well worth reading, but this is what it boils down to. We have to reject the temptation of simple technological determinism and the notion that everything is just "because of the algorithm". In short: unsurprisingly, the world matters.

Michael Bang Petersen@m-b-petersen.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Overall, we find that efforts to reduce hostility online must consider the broader socio-economic and political contexts. Addressing societal inequalities may be essential to disrupting a mutually reinforcing cycle between societal discontent and aggression on social media. 7/7

Michael Bang Petersen@m-b-petersen.bsky.social · 4mo ago

🚨 New in Nature Human Behaviour: www.nature.com/articles/s41... Many prior accounts of social media hostility focus on algorithms. With @boralexander.bsky.social, @a-marie-sci.bsky.social & @leapradella.bsky.social, we use data from 30 countries to focus on the role of societal conditions. 🧵1/7

Social media users experience more political hostility in less economically equal and less democratic societies - Nature Human Behaviour

Drawing on survey data from 30 countries, Bor et al. find that online political hostility is higher in more unequal and less democratic societies.

nature.com

Drew Engelhardt@amengel.bsky.social · 5mo ago

New w/@scottclifford.bsky.social. Lots of work uses agree-disagree scales, and a lit review shows these are 1) frequently just measured in one direction (agree = higher trait) and 2) correlated with each other. This has potentially big issues for conclusions. link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Acquiescence Bias and Criterion Validity: Problems and Potential Solutions for Agree-Disagree Scales - Political Behavior

Political Behavior - Scholars frequently measure dispositions like populism, conspiracism, racism, and sexism by asking survey respondents whether they agree or disagree with statements...

link.springer.com

Michael Bang Petersen@m-b-petersen.bsky.social · 6mo ago

In this interview with @paulrosenberg.bsky.social, I discuss a Scandinavian tool for protecting democracy: Parliament-initiated audits of democracy carried out by independent researchers Currently, I direct such an audit in Denmark & discuss the challenges to liberal democracy in the 21st century 👇

Liberal Currents@liberalcurrents.com · 6mo ago

Today @paulrosenberg.bsky.social argues that Americans should learn from the Danish government's "multi-year “Power and Democracy study” to analyze how Denmark’s democracy is functioning, what challenges it faces, and what can be done to improve it." www.liberalcurrents.com/america-if-y...

Liberal Currents@liberalcurrents.com · 6mo ago

Today @paulrosenberg.bsky.social argues that Americans should learn from the Danish government's "multi-year “Power and Democracy study” to analyze how Denmark’s democracy is functioning, what challenges it faces, and what can be done to improve it." www.liberalcurrents.com/america-if-y...

America, If You’re Listening: Denmark’s Example for Fixing Liberal Democracy

Talking to Michael Bang Peterson on Denmark's recurring process of self-examination.

liberalcurrents.com

Paul Rosenberg@paulrosenberg.bsky.social · 6mo ago

American democracy is facing its most serious crisis since the Civil War, but we have no coherent effort to even to try to figure out what's wrong, in order to start fixing things. But Denmark is doing just that with a model it's used before. 1/9 www.liberalcurrents.com/america-if-y...

America, If You’re Listening: Denmark’s Example for Fixing Liberal Democracy

Talking to Michael Bang Peterson on Denmark's recurring process of self-examination.

liberalcurrents.com

Kim Lane Scheppele@kimlanelaw.bsky.social · 6mo ago

www.liberalcurrents.com/america-if-y.... If you want to see how democratic renewal is done, look to Denmark! Of course, the US is deep into autocratic capture and they are not, so already it’s too late to pull this off. Still, it’s worth looking at how functional democracies stay functional.

America, If You’re Listening: Denmark’s Example for Fixing Liberal Democracy

Talking to Michael Bang Peterson on Denmark's recurring process of self-examination.

liberalcurrents.com

Karen Melchior@karmel80.bsky.social · 6mo ago

@m-b-petersen.bsky.social Whereas people with a higher education, people who are older, they're still reading newspapers, they're still watching the evening news shows, and so on,” all of which “makes it much more difficult to actually have a collective will formation.”

America, If You’re Listening: Denmark’s Example for Fixing Liberal Democracy

Talking to Michael Bang Peterson on Denmark's recurring process of self-examination.

liberalcurrents.com