Personifiering av politik : En fallstudie med komparativa inslag av Sveriges riksdagspartier på Instagram

Sammanfattning: With the change from the most stable party system in Europe to a decline in party membership and a fragmented parliament, Sweden has lost its’ unique status in European politics. A weakened collective identity and changes to social structures have brought the phenomenon of personalization of politics to the attention of scholars. The phenomenon, which centres on the increasing meaning of individual politicians at the expense of a decreasing importance of the political collective, is this studies’ theoretical framework. This study aims to examine the presence of personalization of politics among Swedish parliamentary parties on Instagram. In order to analyse the Instagram accounts a quantitative content analysis was conducted over three separate periods from the election month of 2014, 2018, and 2022. The findings suggest that no linear trend is to be found, however the level of personalization of politics is generally high among the parties on Instagram. Furthermore, the centralized personalization, the focus on party leaders, is exceedingly prominent among the studied cases.