In the world of politics, sex, money and power often go hand in hand. These temptations can nudge politicians off the straight and narrow, causing them to engage in norm-busting behavior that makes voters scratch their heads in wonder. But does this misbehavior really deserve to be called a scandal?
This article aims to bring a new perspective to the study of political scandal. Previous research in the area has primarily focused on studying the effect of a single scandal on an implicated politician or group of politicians. In contrast, our approach shifts attention to the relationships between these politicians and their political parties. It also considers the level of polarization within those parties.
Using data on political scandals, our analysis shows that the emergence of these events is not just the result of individual misbehavior, but rather a result of interparty competition that shapes perceptions about what counts as normal and what does not. The ramifications of these findings are far-reaching. They not only highlight the pervasiveness of political corruption in the United States but also suggest that efforts to reduce the amount of cynical, partisan, and corrupt behavior at all levels of government should focus not just on identifying specific instances of scandal but on curbing the underlying political dynamics that allow them to occur in the first place.
To address these questions, this article develops and tests a new theory of scandal formation and effects. The key insight is that scandals are shaped by the degree of polarization in a political system, and that political polarization drives the creation of scandalous stories and increases the likelihood that those stories will be shared. This new understanding of how scandals work and their effects holds important implications for the fields of political science, psychology, and communication research.
