Scandalogy Research Initiative (HAW Hamburg); Hamburg Univ. of Applied Sciences (HAW Hamburg), Faculty of Management, Governance and Media (Web)

Time: 07.-09.05.2026
Venue: Hamburg
Proposals by: 01.12.2025

Scandalogy is an initiative that conducts interdisciplinary research in scandals, media, and society. The research initiative hosts regular conferences and maintains a network of international scholars from the broader academic field, such as political communication, journalism studies, public relations, digital communication research, and cultural studies.
Since ancient times the term scandal signifies schemata of communication in which groups mediate events and actions that involve the breaching of moral and legal codes by evoking strong collective emotional responses in public. From a functional perspective scandal is a communicative means to (re)negotiate social power by clarifying moral and legal codes and symbolically punishing those who break them by exercising collective shaming and ostracization of transgressors. However, during the political or social ruptures of the 21st century, scandal has become an instrument used by social groups to sow distrust in the power of institutions and their agents, mobilize collective outrage against political opponents or social groups, and eventually reshape public discourse about moral and legal certainties. This conference explores how power, protest, and the politics of emotions intersect in scandalization, and invites scholars to critically engage with these dynamics across disciplines.
Recent interdisciplinary scholarship has underscored the central role of emotions in amplifying the impact of scandals. Scandals rely on emotional triggers such as anger, indignation, and moral shock to gain traction in public spheres (Mau, Lux, & Westheuser, 2023; von Sikorski & Matthes, 2020). Research in political communication shows that moral outrage intensifies media attention and accelerates the diffusion of scandal narratives, particularly in hybrid media systems where digital platforms foster rapid circulation (Chadwick, 2017; Bennett & Pfetsch, 2018; Joller, 2018). Emotions also shape the interpretation of scandalous events, with partisan identity influencing selective exposure and perception (Walter & Redlawsk, 2019). Negative emotions such as anger and disgust have been found to strengthen collective memory of scandals, reinforcing their political consequences (Powell et al., 2019). Read more and source … (Web)