Apathy and Alienation : Navigating the Role of Disinformation and Active Citizenship
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| Year of publication | 2024 |
| Type | Appeared in Conference without Proceedings |
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| Description | The erosion of trust in institutions is often perceived by citizens as the result of elites failing to listen to their needs. This communication asymmetry not only impacts people’s willingness to participate in the system but also alters the ways they seek out information. Disinformation, which often builds on the narrative of an asymmetric relationship between elites and the public, further deepens this distrust and fuels anti-system sentiments. Considering this spiral of distrust, we investigate individuals susceptible to disinformation. Our study, based on focus groups conducted in Czechia (2023), examines how individuals with low trust in government and mainstream media engage with false information and how it shapes their perceptions of the political and informational landscape. Findings show a widespread belief that political and media elites form a homogeneous group that overlooks public concerns, fueling alienation and apathy towards the whole system. However, this distrust does not merely lead to rejecting mainstream sources or consuming only alternative ones; instead, individuals expand media repertoires, seeking out a wider range of sources and relying on personal experience as a basis for evaluating information. Whereas elites are seen as unresponsive, interpersonal discussions are trusted. Participants describe a process of “puzzle building,” piecing together fragmented information as an individual response to an untrustworthy system. This self-reliant approach weakens political engagement, deepening distrust and risking further erosion of democratic participation, highlighting the need for interventions to counteract disinformation and restore trust. |
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