Social perception of Risk and Threat of “Cyber Warefare” in the German speaking blogosphere

Henrike Francesca Höpker

doi:10.22151/politikon.28.2

Authors

Henrike Francesca Höpker University of Augsburg

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.22151/politikon.28.2

Keywords:

Beck, blogosphere, cyberwar, risk, social perception, threat scenario

Abstract

This paper presents some selected findings from a previous study. It aimed at establishing an overview of the discourse on “cyberwar” within the German speaking blogosphere. A profound basis could be established collecting data, to be analyzed with the Sociology of Knowledge Approach to Discourse. Therefore the study combined quantitative comparability with qualitative exploration. The here presented items were chosen with regard to their relevance for the social perceptions of risk. The latter first introduced by Ulrich Beck were used to analyze the construction of cyberwar in the German blogosphere. Discussed aspects include the perception of threat, the associated state actors as well as the types of debated scenarios. Based on these indicators some well-founded assumptions are made regarding the high diversity of scenarios as well as the commonalities within the blogosphere. Even though the study analyzed 148 blog posts this amount is not sufficient to generalize the results.

Author Biography

Henrike Francesca Höpker, University of Augsburg

Henrike Francesca Höpker, 26, from Augsburg (Germany), is currently finishing her M.A. degree in "Social and Political Conflict Studies" at the University of Augsburg. She holds a B.A. from the Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena in Sociology and Economic Science. Her master thesis is about the construction of the phenomenon "cyberwarfare" in the German speaking blogosphere. Her research interests are in sociology of risk, security studies, good governance and cyber conflicts.