Social influence networks and understanding of citizenship

Abstract

I propose an analytical model to combine macro-sociological aspects of cultural boundary making with socio-psychological research on social influence networks. This model will help me investigate how the understanding of citizenship of Swiss local politicians is influenced by their interactions with their colleagues in the course of naturalization processes. I argue that the decision-making processes, and debates involving criteria for naturalization, have an impact on individuals’ understandings of citizenship. First, I will invoke Wimmer's (2002 Wimmer , Andreas 2002 Nationalist Exclusion and Ethnic Conflict: Shadows of Modernity , Cambridge : Cambridge University Press [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]) theory on cultural negotiation processes and cultural compromise, to lay the basis for a better understanding of how individual national identities converge. I will then extend my analytical model with theories in social psychology that discuss attitude and norm formations, as well as network theories of social influence, in order to understand why even politicians with strong opinions change their attitudes. The empirical part of the article draws on 180 interviews with Swiss local politicians.