Changing the norms of citizenship? Attitude, platforms and crisis-driven shifts in 17 countries during the COVID-19 pandemic

Karolina  Koc-Michalska; Darren Graham Lilleker; Yannis  Theocharis; Toril Aalberg; Ana S.  Cardenal; Nicoleta  Corbu; Claes H.  de Vreese; Frank Esser; David Nicolas  Hopmann; Jörg Matthes; Christian Schemer; Tamir Sheafer; Sergio  Splendore; James Stanyer; Agnieszka Stępińska; Václav Stetka; Jesper Strömbäck; Alon Zoizner

doi:10.1177/14614448261444723

Changing the norms of citizenship? Attitude, platforms and crisis-driven shifts in 17 countries during the COVID-19 pandemic

Karolina Koc-Michalska
, Darren Graham Lilleker
, Yannis Theocharis (Corresponding author)
, Toril Aalberg
, Ana S. Cardenal
, Nicoleta Corbu
, Claes H. de Vreese
, Frank Esser
, David Nicolas Hopmann
, Jörg Matthes
, Christian Schemer
, Tamir Sheafer
, Sergio Splendore
, James Stanyer
, Agnieszka Stępińska
, Václav Stetka
, Jesper Strömbäck
, Alon Zoizner

Department of Communication

Publications: Contribution to journal › Article › Peer Reviewed

Abstract

This study investigates shifts in citizenship norms during crisis. Citizenship, a core concept of democratic theory, reflects an allegiance to the state founded on public sovereignty, and individuals having the right and capacity to participate in political decision-making. Drawing on Schnaudt et al.’s framework, we explore changes in dutiful, autonomy, and solidarity norms through a two-wave panel study conducted across 17 European democracies in December 2019 and April 2020. Our data demonstrate that media use expectedly increased, and citizenship norms shifted significantly in some cases. Changes correlate strongly with rising levels of political interest. Complex patterns occur for different platform use: Facebook reinforced dutiful citizenship, Twitter strengthened autonomy norms, and WhatsApp solidarity norms. Exposure to congruent content enhanced adherence to all three norms, while peer-to-peer influence positively impacted autonomy and solidarity norms. The study contributes to ongoing discussions about the impact of the digital media environment on citizens’ relationships with democratic institutions.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	2981-3003
Number of pages	23
Journal	New Media & Society
Volume	28
Issue number	7
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448261444723
Publication status	Published - 7 Jul 2026

Funding

The authors disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This project was financially supported by the Network of European Political Communication Scholars (NEPOCS). Data collection in Denmark was supported by the University of Southern Denmark. The collection of data in Hungary and Poland was supported by the Economic and Social Research Council (ES/S01019X/1). The collection of the data in France was supported by an Audencia Foundation grant. The collection of data in Sweden was supported by the research project ‘Knowledge resistance: causes, consequences, cures’, funded by Riksbankens Jubileumsfond. YT acknowledge the support of the ZeMKI Lenkungskreis at the University of Bremen, which generously contributed to funding this research.

Austrian Fields of Science 2012

508007 Communication science

Keywords

COVID-19 pandemic
norms of citizenship
social media platforms
cross-cutting exposure
sources of influence

Access to Document

10.1177/14614448261444723Licence: CC BY 4.0

Cite this

Koc-Michalska, K., Lilleker, D. G., Theocharis, Y., Aalberg, T., Cardenal, A. S., Corbu, N., de Vreese, C. H., Esser, F., Hopmann, D. N., Matthes, J., Schemer, C., Sheafer, T., Splendore, S., Stanyer, J., Stępińska, A., Stetka, V., Strömbäck, J., & Zoizner, A. (2026). Changing the norms of citizenship? Attitude, platforms and crisis-driven shifts in 17 countries during the COVID-19 pandemic. New Media & Society, 28(7), 2981-3003. https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448261444723

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title = "Changing the norms of citizenship? Attitude, platforms and crisis-driven shifts in 17 countries during the COVID-19 pandemic",

abstract = "This study investigates shifts in citizenship norms during crisis. Citizenship, a core concept of democratic theory, reflects an allegiance to the state founded on public sovereignty, and individuals having the right and capacity to participate in political decision-making. Drawing on Schnaudt et al.{\textquoteright}s framework, we explore changes in dutiful, autonomy, and solidarity norms through a two-wave panel study conducted across 17 European democracies in December 2019 and April 2020. Our data demonstrate that media use expectedly increased, and citizenship norms shifted significantly in some cases. Changes correlate strongly with rising levels of political interest. Complex patterns occur for different platform use: Facebook reinforced dutiful citizenship, Twitter strengthened autonomy norms, and WhatsApp solidarity norms. Exposure to congruent content enhanced adherence to all three norms, while peer-to-peer influence positively impacted autonomy and solidarity norms. The study contributes to ongoing discussions about the impact of the digital media environment on citizens{\textquoteright} relationships with democratic institutions.",

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note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} The Author(s) 2026. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) which permits any use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access pages (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).",

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doi = "10.1177/14614448261444723",

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Koc-Michalska, K, Lilleker, DG, Theocharis, Y, Aalberg, T, Cardenal, AS, Corbu, N, de Vreese, CH, Esser, F, Hopmann, DN, Matthes, J, Schemer, C, Sheafer, T, Splendore, S, Stanyer, J, Stępińska, A, Stetka, V, Strömbäck, J & Zoizner, A 2026, 'Changing the norms of citizenship? Attitude, platforms and crisis-driven shifts in 17 countries during the COVID-19 pandemic', New Media & Society, vol. 28, no. 7, pp. 2981-3003. https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448261444723

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AU - Koc-Michalska, Karolina

AU - Lilleker, Darren Graham

AU - Theocharis, Yannis

AU - Aalberg, Toril

AU - Cardenal, Ana S.

AU - Corbu, Nicoleta

AU - de Vreese, Claes H.

AU - Esser, Frank

AU - Hopmann, David Nicolas

AU - Matthes, Jörg

AU - Schemer, Christian

AU - Sheafer, Tamir

AU - Splendore, Sergio

AU - Stanyer, James

AU - Stępińska, Agnieszka

AU - Stetka, Václav

AU - Strömbäck, Jesper

AU - Zoizner, Alon

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © The Author(s) 2026. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) which permits any use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access pages (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).

PY - 2026/7/7

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N2 - This study investigates shifts in citizenship norms during crisis. Citizenship, a core concept of democratic theory, reflects an allegiance to the state founded on public sovereignty, and individuals having the right and capacity to participate in political decision-making. Drawing on Schnaudt et al.’s framework, we explore changes in dutiful, autonomy, and solidarity norms through a two-wave panel study conducted across 17 European democracies in December 2019 and April 2020. Our data demonstrate that media use expectedly increased, and citizenship norms shifted significantly in some cases. Changes correlate strongly with rising levels of political interest. Complex patterns occur for different platform use: Facebook reinforced dutiful citizenship, Twitter strengthened autonomy norms, and WhatsApp solidarity norms. Exposure to congruent content enhanced adherence to all three norms, while peer-to-peer influence positively impacted autonomy and solidarity norms. The study contributes to ongoing discussions about the impact of the digital media environment on citizens’ relationships with democratic institutions.

AB - This study investigates shifts in citizenship norms during crisis. Citizenship, a core concept of democratic theory, reflects an allegiance to the state founded on public sovereignty, and individuals having the right and capacity to participate in political decision-making. Drawing on Schnaudt et al.’s framework, we explore changes in dutiful, autonomy, and solidarity norms through a two-wave panel study conducted across 17 European democracies in December 2019 and April 2020. Our data demonstrate that media use expectedly increased, and citizenship norms shifted significantly in some cases. Changes correlate strongly with rising levels of political interest. Complex patterns occur for different platform use: Facebook reinforced dutiful citizenship, Twitter strengthened autonomy norms, and WhatsApp solidarity norms. Exposure to congruent content enhanced adherence to all three norms, while peer-to-peer influence positively impacted autonomy and solidarity norms. The study contributes to ongoing discussions about the impact of the digital media environment on citizens’ relationships with democratic institutions.

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KW - social media platforms

KW - cross-cutting exposure

KW - sources of influence

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DO - 10.1177/14614448261444723

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ER -

Changing the norms of citizenship? Attitude, platforms and crisis-driven shifts in 17 countries during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

Funding

Austrian Fields of Science 2012

Keywords

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