Political scandals are a regular part of contemporary politics, and news reports about political norm transgressions are highly relevant for both elections and democracy at large. However, the studies investigating the effects of scandals have been limited in their focus. They often only address the question of whether individuals with positive preexisting candidate evaluations will defend these evaluations against new scandalous information or if they will reevaluate their prior views.
These reevaluations may be the result of new evidence about a politician’s actions or the fact that a scandal makes it seem as though they are not the type they publicly pretend to be, e.g., if they make discriminatory utterances while publicly promoting their unprejudiced position. Furthermore, many of these scandals are caused by politicians’ attempts to evade financial rules or laws such as tax evasion or by their personal violations of behavioral norms such as lying, hypocrisy, or provocative utterances.
In addition, there is a growing recognition that scandals are the product of media discourse in which the way a specific scandal is reported, framed, or even discussed in a particular news article can significantly influence how people perceive a scandal and its effect. The present Special Section aims to advance the discussion of these issues by examining political scandals in different political systems and media traditions from a Durkheimian perspective.
The papers featured in this section explore the interaction of an individual’s preexisting political attitudes and their perceptions of a specific scandal, providing new insights into the dynamic and complex processes involved in political scandal. In doing so, this Special Section will contribute to the research in the field of scandals and provide inspiration for scholars around the world to work towards a better understanding of these phenomena.
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