Ilkka Koiranen
Biographic Data
| ID | 325689 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Ilkka Koiranen |
| GIVEN NAMES | Ilkka |
| FAMILY NAME | Koiranen |
| SIGNATURE | KOIRANEN I |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Turku |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-8520-5133 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 13 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 21 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 13 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2017 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
Political Trust and Aspirations to Influence Social Media During a Crisis
This study investigated how political trust shaped citizens' aspirations to influence others on social media during a COVID‐19 pandemic. Using four‐wave longitudinal survey data (2017–2021; N = 2172) collected from 543 citizens in Finland, we first analysed how political trust moderated the temporal development of individuals' aspirations to influence others online. We then examined how trust and influence aspirations jointly contributed to citiz…
Experts, Experts Everywhere! Survey Experimental Evidence on How Involving Expertise Affects Decision-Making Legitimacy
Science and expertise are frequently invoked to legitimize policy decisions. However, while prior research suggests broad support for expert-led governance, it often overlooks how citizens differentiate between types of experts and how political beliefs shape these perceptions. This study examines how institutional affiliations of experts—universities, government, and think tanks—influence citizens’ perceptions of legitimacy in political decision…
Christian nationalism divided
Christian nationalism (CN) has emerged as a significant concept in discussions concerning politics and religion in the United States. While the relevance of the concept has been much discussed in American sociology of religion, its applicability to other contexts remains unexplored. We aim to address this gap by examining the transferability of CN to European contexts. Using a representative survey from Finland, we refine the measurement proposed…
Populism, technocracy, and affective polarization
In this article, we explore the evolving interplay between populism, technocracy, and affective polarization in current politics. More specifically, we evaluate how populist and technocratic ideologies shape antipluralist attitudes and affective polarization among the Finnish electorate. Populism and technocracy, often perceived as contrary political positions, can converge by challenging established democratic processes, political institutions, …
Varieties of Economic Elites? Preliminary Results From the World Elite Database (WED)
The strategies, decisions and beliefs of those who occupy prominent positions of economic power have influence on very large corporations and the markets they dominate, on vast amounts of economic resources, and on the rules of the game. However, the sociology of elites faces a dual challenge: divergent conceptualisations of what can be considered as a position of economic power and internationally incompatible sources of information hinder compa…
Media framing and trust
This research examines the influence of news media and trust in institutions on how vaccinated individuals in Finland perceived the unvaccinated during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study employed a randomized survey experiment involving 455 participants and incorporated episodic and thematic news framings on vaccine side effects alongside a non-treatment control group. Episodic framing, which presented personal stories, was found to significantly r…
Examining extra-parliamentary engagement
Purpose The study utilises unique survey data gathered from 12,427 party members. The dependent variable measures party members’ in-party commitment and is based on willingness to donate money, to contribute effort, the feeling of belonging in the party network and social trust in the party network. Design/methodology/approach In this article, we study how different extra-parliamentary online and offline activities are associated with in-party co…
Vääristävä peili
Väitöskirjassani väitän, että sosiaalinen media voidaan ymmärtää yhteiskunnan poliit- tista julkisuutta heijastavana peilinä. Tämä kyseinen peili ei kuitenkaan ainoastaan hei- jasta julkisuutta, vaan myös muokkaa ja vääristää sitä monin tavoin. Väitöstutkimuksen peilivertauksella kuvaankin sitä, miten yhteiskunnallinen keskustelu sekä tätä keskuste- lua ympäröivä arvopoliittinen ilmapiiri näyttävät vääntyvän sosiaalisessa mediassa to- dellista kä…
Undercurrents of echo chambers and flame wars
In this study, we examine how political party preference and politically active social media use associate with social media behaviors - namely, conformist, provocative, and protective - in the context of the current political sphere in Finland. In our empirical analysis, we use a nationally representative dataset collected from 3,724 Finnish citizens in 2018. Our research confirms the assumption that there are notable differences in the social m…
Ideological motives, digital divides, and political polarization
Social and ideological representativeness
This study provides a new frame of reference for understanding intraparty dynamics by analyzing party members’ representativeness with respect to party supporters regarding socioeconomic status and the ideological spectrum in a multiparty system, namely that of Finland. The analysis is based on a unique member-based survey of Finland’s six major political parties ( N = 12,427), which is combined with supporter data derived from a nationally repre…
Highly educated but occupationally differentiated
The socio-demographic profiles and occupations of the members of the Green League and other Finnish political parties are examined using survey data collected from the members of Finland’s six major political parties (n = 12,427). Significant differentiation in occupational structure is revealed among Green party members. The importance of understanding how Green party members differ by background is emphasised while providing new approaches to s…
Assessing the social media landscape
This study examines the social Internet use-purposes of Finns along with links to perceived life satisfaction. Here, associations between life satisfaction and various online behaviors linked to socialization are explored among the Finnish adult population, sigh data coming from nationally representative surveys focused on adult populations in Finland (N=1,600). Analysis shows that social media use is linked to both higher and lower levels of ove…
Varieties of Economic Elites? Preliminary Results From the World Elite Database (WED)
The strategies, decisions and beliefs of those who occupy prominent positions of economic power have influence on very large corporations and the markets they dominate, on vast amounts of economic resources, and on the rules of the game. However, the sociology of elites faces a dual challenge: divergent conceptualisations of what can be considered as a position of economic power and internationally incompatible sources of information hinder compa…
Social and ideological representativeness
This study provides a new frame of reference for understanding intraparty dynamics by analyzing party members’ representativeness with respect to party supporters regarding socioeconomic status and the ideological spectrum in a multiparty system, namely that of Finland. The analysis is based on a unique member-based survey of Finland’s six major political parties ( N = 12,427), which is combined with supporter data derived from a nationally repre…
Undercurrents of echo chambers and flame wars
In this study, we examine how political party preference and politically active social media use associate with social media behaviors - namely, conformist, provocative, and protective - in the context of the current political sphere in Finland. In our empirical analysis, we use a nationally representative dataset collected from 3,724 Finnish citizens in 2018. Our research confirms the assumption that there are notable differences in the social m…
Highly educated but occupationally differentiated
The socio-demographic profiles and occupations of the members of the Green League and other Finnish political parties are examined using survey data collected from the members of Finland’s six major political parties (n = 12,427). Significant differentiation in occupational structure is revealed among Green party members. The importance of understanding how Green party members differ by background is emphasised while providing new approaches to s…
Assessing the social media landscape
This study examines the social Internet use-purposes of Finns along with links to perceived life satisfaction. Here, associations between life satisfaction and various online behaviors linked to socialization are explored among the Finnish adult population, sigh data coming from nationally representative surveys focused on adult populations in Finland (N=1,600). Analysis shows that social media use is linked to both higher and lower levels of ove…
Highly educated but occupationally differentiated
The socio-demographic profiles and occupations of the members of the Green League and other Finnish political parties are examined using survey data collected from the members of Finland’s six major political parties (n = 12,427). Significant differentiation in occupational structure is revealed among Green party members. The importance of understanding how Green party members differ by background is emphasised while providing new approaches to s…
Ideological motives, digital divides, and political polarization
Social and ideological representativeness
This study provides a new frame of reference for understanding intraparty dynamics by analyzing party members’ representativeness with respect to party supporters regarding socioeconomic status and the ideological spectrum in a multiparty system, namely that of Finland. The analysis is based on a unique member-based survey of Finland’s six major political parties ( N = 12,427), which is combined with supporter data derived from a nationally repre…
Undercurrents of echo chambers and flame wars
In this study, we examine how political party preference and politically active social media use associate with social media behaviors - namely, conformist, provocative, and protective - in the context of the current political sphere in Finland. In our empirical analysis, we use a nationally representative dataset collected from 3,724 Finnish citizens in 2018. Our research confirms the assumption that there are notable differences in the social m…
Vääristävä peili
Väitöskirjassani väitän, että sosiaalinen media voidaan ymmärtää yhteiskunnan poliit- tista julkisuutta heijastavana peilinä. Tämä kyseinen peili ei kuitenkaan ainoastaan hei- jasta julkisuutta, vaan myös muokkaa ja vääristää sitä monin tavoin. Väitöstutkimuksen peilivertauksella kuvaankin sitä, miten yhteiskunnallinen keskustelu sekä tätä keskuste- lua ympäröivä arvopoliittinen ilmapiiri näyttävät vääntyvän sosiaalisessa mediassa to- dellista kä…
Media framing and trust
This research examines the influence of news media and trust in institutions on how vaccinated individuals in Finland perceived the unvaccinated during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study employed a randomized survey experiment involving 455 participants and incorporated episodic and thematic news framings on vaccine side effects alongside a non-treatment control group. Episodic framing, which presented personal stories, was found to significantly r…
Examining extra-parliamentary engagement
Purpose The study utilises unique survey data gathered from 12,427 party members. The dependent variable measures party members’ in-party commitment and is based on willingness to donate money, to contribute effort, the feeling of belonging in the party network and social trust in the party network. Design/methodology/approach In this article, we study how different extra-parliamentary online and offline activities are associated with in-party co…
Populism, technocracy, and affective polarization
In this article, we explore the evolving interplay between populism, technocracy, and affective polarization in current politics. More specifically, we evaluate how populist and technocratic ideologies shape antipluralist attitudes and affective polarization among the Finnish electorate. Populism and technocracy, often perceived as contrary political positions, can converge by challenging established democratic processes, political institutions, …
Varieties of Economic Elites? Preliminary Results From the World Elite Database (WED)
The strategies, decisions and beliefs of those who occupy prominent positions of economic power have influence on very large corporations and the markets they dominate, on vast amounts of economic resources, and on the rules of the game. However, the sociology of elites faces a dual challenge: divergent conceptualisations of what can be considered as a position of economic power and internationally incompatible sources of information hinder compa…
Political Trust and Aspirations to Influence Social Media During a Crisis
This study investigated how political trust shaped citizens' aspirations to influence others on social media during a COVID‐19 pandemic. Using four‐wave longitudinal survey data (2017–2021; N = 2172) collected from 543 citizens in Finland, we first analysed how political trust moderated the temporal development of individuals' aspirations to influence others online. We then examined how trust and influence aspirations jointly contributed to citiz…
Experts, Experts Everywhere! Survey Experimental Evidence on How Involving Expertise Affects Decision-Making Legitimacy
Science and expertise are frequently invoked to legitimize policy decisions. However, while prior research suggests broad support for expert-led governance, it often overlooks how citizens differentiate between types of experts and how political beliefs shape these perceptions. This study examines how institutional affiliations of experts—universities, government, and think tanks—influence citizens’ perceptions of legitimacy in political decision…
Christian nationalism divided
Christian nationalism (CN) has emerged as a significant concept in discussions concerning politics and religion in the United States. While the relevance of the concept has been much discussed in American sociology of religion, its applicability to other contexts remains unexplored. We aim to address this gap by examining the transferability of CN to European contexts. Using a representative survey from Finland, we refine the measurement proposed…
Politics (8 works) · Political science (7 works) · Social Media and Politics (7 works) · Law (6 works) · Electoral Systems and Political Participation (5 works) · Social media (5 works) · Sociology (5 works) · Economics (4 works) · Law (4 works) · Psychology (4 works)