Meeting date: 2021-01-27 (Wednesday), 18.30, Accesss code: gdmuhng (MS Teams Platform)

Abstract

This lecture starts off with an introduction to the role of emotions in politics. Offering a typology of different emotions and reflecting on their respective significance for political attitudes and behaviour, I zoom in on a set of emotions associated with the clinical diagnosis of depression. How do depressive symptoms affect the way people relate to politics and their willingness to participate in it? I present results indicating a strong negative effect on participation, as well as findings that show how depressive symptoms differentially affect the political interest of men and women. The lecture concludes with reflections on how the Covid-19 crisis affects mental health and by exploring the potential consequences the apparent rise and socio-economic stratification of symptoms have for democracy and civil society.

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Bio

Claudia Landwehr is a University professor of public policy at the Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz. Her most recent works involve research on depressive symptoms and nonparticipation, backlash against the procedural consensus of liberal democracy, deliberative democracy, links between material interest and support for direct democracy, as well as social and political responses to Covid-19. She is a member of the senate competition committee of Leibniz Association, co-speaker at the research unit “Interdisciplinary Public Policy” (JGU Mainz), senior member of the Gutenberg Academy (JGU Mainz) and an academic advisory board member in projects PALO (Participation in Long-Term Decision-Making) SRC Finland and ZIRIUS - Centre for Interdisciplinary Risk and Innovation Studies, Stuttgart. Read more