Activation and articulation of authoritarian attitudes
May 5, 2026
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A project investigating how the media agenda and news framing shape the emergence and articulation of authoritarian attitudes. The research uses a multi-method design including panel experiments, focus groups, and automated text analysis to study how societal issues on the news agenda activate authoritarian predispositions.
Selected publication
- M. Ekström, J. Johansson (2026). The Emotional Foundations of Authoritarian Discourse: A Mixed-Method Study of Anger, Disgust and Fear in Online Discussions on News Issues. In review.
Principal Investigator
Mats Ekström
Responsibilities
- Managed and collected major decade-long datasets through web scraping of two major Swedish discussion forums: Familjeliv and Flashback.
- Contributed analysis within the project’s broader mixed-method design.
- Theoretical and conceptual development.
Funding
Funded by the Swedish Research Council (Vetenskapsrådet).
Authors
PhD Candidate in Media and Communication
I am a PhD candidate in Media and Communication at the Department of Journalism, Media and Communication (JMG), University of Gothenburg. My research re-examines established theories of media effects and audience behavior as temporally contingent processes, with a focus on public opinion, news framing, agenda-setting, and selective media use, drawing on computational, experimental, and mixed-methods approaches.
I did my PhD affiliated with the Varieties of Media Effects (ERC) research programme and have also worked within projects on long-term cultivation effects and the activation and articulation of authoritarian attitudes.
Before starting my PhD, I worked at the SOM Institute and the Laboratory of Opinion Research (LORE) as Deputy Chief Analyst.