Elitism, trust, opinion leadership and politics in social protests in Germany

André Calero Valdez; Johanna Kluge; Martina Ziefle

doi:10.1016/j.erss.2018.05.025

Elitism, trust, opinion leadership and politics in social protests in Germany

André Calero Valdez, Johanna Kluge, Martina Ziefle

Institute of Multimedia and Interactive Systems

RWTH Aachen University

Abstract

Energy infrastructure projects often bring along protests. Protests as a form of political participation reveal perceptions of locals regarding a specific project. However, it is still unclear who protesters are and what drives them. Specifically, the attitude towards protest has not been extensively studied. We conducted an online survey study with 464 participants and used partially-least squares structural equation modeling to identify antecedents to protest attitudes. We included opinion leadership, trust in institutions, political efficacy and demographic factors in our model to determine possible causal relationships between these factors. We found that protest attitude is predominantly influenced by income, protest experience and political efficacy. No direct association was found for trust in institutions and opinion leadership.

Original language	English
Journal	Energy Research and Social Science
Volume	43
Pages (from-to)	132-143
Number of pages	12
ISSN	2214-6296
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2018.05.025
Publication status	Published - 09.2018

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Access to Document

10.1016/j.erss.2018.05.025

Cite this

@article{91b4126a8f6b4f35b59aeaac9813a22e,

title = "Elitism, trust, opinion leadership and politics in social protests in Germany",

abstract = "Energy infrastructure projects often bring along protests. Protests as a form of political participation reveal perceptions of locals regarding a specific project. However, it is still unclear who protesters are and what drives them. Specifically, the attitude towards protest has not been extensively studied. We conducted an online survey study with 464 participants and used partially-least squares structural equation modeling to identify antecedents to protest attitudes. We included opinion leadership, trust in institutions, political efficacy and demographic factors in our model to determine possible causal relationships between these factors. We found that protest attitude is predominantly influenced by income, protest experience and political efficacy. No direct association was found for trust in institutions and opinion leadership.",

author = "{Calero Valdez}, Andr{\'e} and Johanna Kluge and Martina Ziefle",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2018 Elsevier Ltd",

year = "2018",

month = sep,

doi = "10.1016/j.erss.2018.05.025",

language = "English",

volume = "43",

pages = "132--143",

journal = "Energy Research and Social Science",

issn = "2214-6296",

publisher = "Elsevier B.V.",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Elitism, trust, opinion leadership and politics in social protests in Germany

AU - Calero Valdez, André

AU - Kluge, Johanna

AU - Ziefle, Martina

PY - 2018/9

Y1 - 2018/9

N2 - Energy infrastructure projects often bring along protests. Protests as a form of political participation reveal perceptions of locals regarding a specific project. However, it is still unclear who protesters are and what drives them. Specifically, the attitude towards protest has not been extensively studied. We conducted an online survey study with 464 participants and used partially-least squares structural equation modeling to identify antecedents to protest attitudes. We included opinion leadership, trust in institutions, political efficacy and demographic factors in our model to determine possible causal relationships between these factors. We found that protest attitude is predominantly influenced by income, protest experience and political efficacy. No direct association was found for trust in institutions and opinion leadership.

AB - Energy infrastructure projects often bring along protests. Protests as a form of political participation reveal perceptions of locals regarding a specific project. However, it is still unclear who protesters are and what drives them. Specifically, the attitude towards protest has not been extensively studied. We conducted an online survey study with 464 participants and used partially-least squares structural equation modeling to identify antecedents to protest attitudes. We included opinion leadership, trust in institutions, political efficacy and demographic factors in our model to determine possible causal relationships between these factors. We found that protest attitude is predominantly influenced by income, protest experience and political efficacy. No direct association was found for trust in institutions and opinion leadership.

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85048523001&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.erss.2018.05.025

DO - 10.1016/j.erss.2018.05.025

M3 - Journal articles

AN - SCOPUS:85048523001

SN - 2214-6296

VL - 43

SP - 132

EP - 143

JO - Energy Research and Social Science

JF - Energy Research and Social Science

ER -

Elitism, trust, opinion leadership and politics in social protests in Germany

Abstract

UN SDGs

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this