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Article

Prevalence and Impact of Hate Speech among Politicians in Switzerland

by
Joëlle Ninon Albrecht
1,2,3,*,
Jérôme Endrass
1,3,4,
Michal Sonja Dreifuss
1,3,
Nina Schnyder
1,3 and
Astrid Rossegger
1,3,4
1
Research and Development, Office of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Department of Justice and Home Affairs, 8090 Zurich, Switzerland
2
Child Development Center, University Children’s Hospital Zurich, University of Zurich, 8032 Zurich, Switzerland
3
Department of Psychology, University of Konstanz, 78464 Konstanz, Germany
4
Department of Forensic Psychiatry, University of Basel, 4002 Basel, Switzerland
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Societies 2024, 14(7), 98; https://doi.org/10.3390/soc14070098
Submission received: 10 April 2024 / Revised: 13 June 2024 / Accepted: 18 June 2024 / Published: 27 June 2024

Abstract

Politicians may be particularly vulnerable to hate speech because of their public visibility and exposure to deviating opinions. They play a critical role in the functioning of a democratic system, and therefore, hate speech poses a potential threat because it can impede politicians’ freedom of expression or even lead politicians to resign from office. However, little is known about the prevalence and impact of hate speech targeting politicians. We therefore surveyed the politicians in the Canton of Zurich, Switzerland, 667 of whom participated (39.8% response rate). The prevalence of hate speech experiences was 29.7% in their total time as politicians and 20.6% in the past 12 months. Participants who had held a political office for longer and were affiliated with a political party on the poles of the political spectrum were more susceptible. Crucially, 29.4% of the affected politicians had contemplated resigning from politics due to hate speech. Thus, our study underlines a need for action. As the participants indicated they wanted to deal with hate speech as little as possible but still desired some form of intervention, political measures should strive for intervention options that require minimal contributions from the victims.
Keywords: hate speech; politician; survey; freedom of expression; Switzerland hate speech; politician; survey; freedom of expression; Switzerland

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MDPI and ACS Style

Albrecht, J.N.; Endrass, J.; Dreifuss, M.S.; Schnyder, N.; Rossegger, A. Prevalence and Impact of Hate Speech among Politicians in Switzerland. Societies 2024, 14, 98. https://doi.org/10.3390/soc14070098

AMA Style

Albrecht JN, Endrass J, Dreifuss MS, Schnyder N, Rossegger A. Prevalence and Impact of Hate Speech among Politicians in Switzerland. Societies. 2024; 14(7):98. https://doi.org/10.3390/soc14070098

Chicago/Turabian Style

Albrecht, Joëlle Ninon, Jérôme Endrass, Michal Sonja Dreifuss, Nina Schnyder, and Astrid Rossegger. 2024. "Prevalence and Impact of Hate Speech among Politicians in Switzerland" Societies 14, no. 7: 98. https://doi.org/10.3390/soc14070098

APA Style

Albrecht, J. N., Endrass, J., Dreifuss, M. S., Schnyder, N., & Rossegger, A. (2024). Prevalence and Impact of Hate Speech among Politicians in Switzerland. Societies, 14(7), 98. https://doi.org/10.3390/soc14070098

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