Digitalization and Political Conflict: Parties, Voters, and Electoral Alignment (DIGIPOL)
DIGIPOL investigates the social and political consequences of digitalization. It asks whether we can observe a division in Swiss society between “winners” and “losers” of digitalization, and if this new conflict is reflected in public opinion, political behavior and partisan politics.
DIGIPOL develops a theoretical contribution about a new division in society caused by the digital revolution, between “winners” and “losers” of digitalization. Empirically, the project studies whether this new divide is observed among Swiss citizens. Moreover, to study the political relevance of this divide, it investigates how the political attitudes of citizens in these respective groups are structured. The study also investigates the development of the political debate in Switzerland on digitalization issues, focusing on differences between and within parties. Lastly, using an experiment with a voting advice application, DIGIPOL studies how voters react to political parties’ positions on digitalization issues.
The project breaks new ground in terms of theory and empirics regarding digital technology-induced political conflict. It combines insights from political behaviour and political sociology with the sociology of the digital divide, to deal with pressing questions of political and social relevance.
Keywords
Public opinion, electoral behaviour, political sociology, digitalization, digital inequality
Project duration: October 2021 – September 2025
Budget: Budget: 880.744 CHF (SNSF-funded)
Information on the SNSF website
Principal Investigator: Prof. Dr. Alexander H. Trechsel
Postdoctoral researcher: Dr. Mathilde M. van Ditmars
Postdoctoral researcher: Álvaro Canalejo-Molero
Research assistent: Jonathan Biedermann
Research assistent: Jonas Ineichen
Dr. Mathilde M. van Ditmars
mathilde.vanditmars@unilu.ch