University of Osnabrück researchers Kristin J. Anderson and Alexander De Juan investigate the manosphere and far-right links in Germany; Counter-messaging effectiveness tested.

University of Osnabrück researchers Kristin J. Anderson and Alexander De Juan investigate the manosphere and far-right links in Germany; Counter-messaging effectiveness tested.

What attracts young men to the “manosphere”?: Uni Osnabrück

What attracts young men to the “manosphere”?

Why does the so-called “manosphere” attract so many young men—and what connections does it have to far-right ideologies? A new research project at the University of Osnabrück is exploring these questions.

What is it about the so-called ‘manosphere’ that particularly fascinates young men? That is, this loose digital network of internet forums, blogs and social media accounts that deals intensively with masculinity and disseminates misogynistic and, not infrequently, conspiracy-theory-based content? And which, in some cases, has links to far-right groups? Prof. Dr Kristin J. Anderson and Prof. Dr Alexander De Juan at the University of Osnabrück are currently investigating the links between the ‘manosphere’ and political support for the radical right.

Kristin J. Anderson is a professor of psychology and has come to Osnabrück from the University of Houston-Downtown in Texas as part of the Hannah Arendt Fellowship. Here, she will spend six months working on the research project alongside Prof. Dr. Alexander de Juan.

The Hannah Arendt Fellowship is a new program that invites ten researchers from around the world to conduct research on the topic of democracy at a university in Lower Saxony; Prof. Dr Kristin J. Anderson is one of them.

Although Prof. De Juan is a political scientist and Prof. Anderson comes from the field of psychology, the two researchers’ main areas of research complement each other well: “My academic work focuses on political attitudes and behaviour – there is always a psychological component to this,” says Prof. De Juan, and Prof. Anderson confirms: “There is a great deal of overlap.”

In general, researchers have been observing a clear social trend for years, says Prof. Anderson: young men are increasingly shifting to the right politically, whilst the attitudes of young women have changed far less. “It used to be the case that older people tended to vote conservatively. Today, we are seeing a significant shift among young men. We see this in both Europe and the US,” explains the professor of psychology. “We are interested in how these communities provide young men with explanations for their frustrations: who is supposedly to blame, where their anger should be directed – and how right-wing parties exploit this politically.”

In fact, there are many ideological overlaps between “manfluencers” and right-wing populist agendas, says Prof. Alexander De Juan: “Manfluencers do the recruitment work. They give young men a sense of male collective identity, a shared grievance, a community of belonging. Radical right actors then take that and link it to their own political agenda.” To test these mechanisms, the two researchers are conducting a survey experiment with young men in Germany. Participants are shown short videos representative of typical manosphere content and - in some conditions - different forms of counter-messaging designed to weaken its mobilising effect. “We want to know both how appealing this content is to young men and which kinds of counter-framing actually work against it,” says De Juan. Prof. Dr Kristin J. Anderson encounters the effects of the MAGA movement, fuelled by anti-feminist online communities, on a daily basis in the US: “It’s particularly extreme in Texas,” says the academic, who grew up in California. The US government’s crackdown on universities has made international headlines. “My research hasn’t been affected by this yet – but teaching certainly has.” Certain courses and seminars can no longer be offered, and many academics are currently exploring options outside the US.

But for now, Prof. Anderson is enjoying her time in Germany, a country she has only ever visited briefly as a teenager and during short stays in Berlin for lectures. Her impression so far? “I think it’s brilliant. I live just two minutes from the university, and there are so few cars and so many cyclists here,” she says. And there’s one more thing she’s noticed: “I know what others say – but I’ve also found travelling by train to be very straightforward and reliable so far.”

Well – she’s only been in Germany for a short while.

Further information for the media: Prof. Dr. Alexander De Juan, University of Osnabrück Institute for Social Sciences

First Hannah Arendt Scholar at the University of Osnabrück