Scientists see the roots of the “lateral thinking” movement in Baden-Württemberg in the left-wing alternative milieu. According to this, the so-called lateral thinkers tick very differently in the south-west than in the east of the republic.
The proportion of AfD voters there in the movement is much higher than in West Germany, according to the study. But there are twice as many former Green and Left voters among the protesters in the south-west as in the east.
In Saxony, the protests are more strongly influenced by the extreme right and have significantly less esoteric features, according to the study.
Sociologists from the University of Basel, on behalf of the Heinrich Böll Foundation, examined the connections between the “lateral thinkers” in their country of origin, Baden-Württemberg, to earlier protest movements and the role of certain socio-cultural milieus in their formation.
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The scientists got 1,150 members of Telegram groups to fill out a questionnaire. Scientist Oliver Nachtwey, who is behind the study, admitted that one had reached rather reasonable ones and not hard conspiracy theorists and Reich citizens. It is not a representative survey, but you still have precise findings.
Self-perception as part of a “core of the initiated”
Around 30 percent of those surveyed said they had voted for the Greens earlier, said Nachtwey. Many study participants stated that they still voted for the Greens in the 2017 federal election.
Nachtwey explained that the alternative and anthroposophical milieu played a role in the creation of the Greens. But many participants in the movement had alienated themselves not only from the Greens, but also from the core institutions of liberal democracy in general. You voted for the AfD today or not at all.
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The “lateral thinkers” presented themselves as critical experts and heroic resistance fighters, explained the sociologist Nadine Frei. They see themselves as true defenders of democracy and freedom and as part of a “core of the initiated”.
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As initiates, they believed they had a higher level of knowledge and knew the real motives for government action.
The researchers see only a weak connection to the Christian evangelical milieu and even less to the milieu surrounding the protest movement against the Stuttgart 21 station project. Instead, the study attributes the corona protests primarily to the anthroposophical milieu. Individuality and closeness to nature are strong points of reference. (dpa)
