Anna Berg

Anna Berg is a political and cultural sociologist who studies how media and communication shape politics, especially within right-wing and populist movements. Her work aims to give clear, research-based insights into current debates about digitalization, communication, and political identity. Instead of relying on buzzwords like “fake news,” “echo chambers,” or “post-truth,” she uses ideas from cultural sociology to understand how political communication works today.

One of her research projects looks at how right-wing alternative media influence political opinions. She interviewed people who took part in recent populist mobilizations in Germany, such as anti-refugee protests and anti-lockdown demonstrations during the COVID-19 pandemic. Many participants talked about how they gather information and why they avoid what they call “mainstream” media. Through these interviews, she studied how they use media in their daily lives—how they judge content, combine information from different platforms, and choose certain influencers and sources.

Her book project, Informational Activism and the Party Imagination, explores a new political mindset that has appeared in recent populist movements. She examines how this mindset affects political action, including social movements and voting. The book is based on two and a half years of ethnographic fieldwork in two German cities—one in the East and one in the West.

She is now doing fieldwork for a new project that focuses on media use and political mobilization among high-school students.