This article briefly summarizes the German research literature on scandal and then outlines a theory of scandal as a socially constructed communication pattern. The theory distinguishes macro- and micro-level approaches for addressing the question of which malfunctions a society selects for scandal. The manifest and latent functions of scandals are discussed with special emphasis on the role of the mass media. The authors’concept of scandal is linked to the concept of political culture. The article then reviews, from a comparative cross-national point of view, (a) scandals that were formative for the development of democratic political culture in Germany, (b) scandals that are linked to the particular history of Germany, (c) scandals that do not distinguish Germany from other societies, and (d) scandals that are conspicuously missing in Germany although common in other countries. On this basis, five conclusions are drawn about the relationship of political scandal and political culture.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Albrecht, M. C. (1954). The relationship between literature and society. American Journal of Sociology, 59, 425-436.
2.
Albrecht, M. C. (1956). Does literature reflect common values? American Sociological Review, 21, 722-729.
3.
Almond, G. (1993). The study of political culture. In D. Berg-Schlosser & R. Rytlewski (Eds.), Political culture in Germany (pp. 13-26). Basingstoke, UK: Macmillan.
4.
Almond, G., & Verba, S. (1963). The civic culture: Political attitudes and democracy in five nations. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
5.
Almond, G., & Verba, S. (Eds.) (1980). The civic culture revisited: An analytic study. Boston: Little, Brown.
6.
Berelson, B. (1952). Content analysis in communication research. Glencoe, IL: Free Press.
7.
Berg-Schlosser, D., & Rytlewski, R. (Eds.). (1993). Political culture in Germany. Basingstoke, UK: Macmillan.
8.
Beule, J., & Hondrich, K. O. (1990). Skandale als Kristallisationspunkte politischen Streits [Scandals as focal points of political dispute]. In U. Sarcinelli (Ed.), Demokratische Streitkultur. Theoretische Grundpositionen und Handlungsalternativen in Politikfeldern (pp. 144-156). Bonn, Germany: Bundeszentrale fuer politische Bildung.
9.
Bohnsack, G., & Brehmer, H. (1992). Auftrag: Irrefuehrung. Wie die Stasi Politik im Westen machte [Order: Misleading. How the Stasi made politics in the West]. Hamburg, Germany: Carlsen.
10.
Bunn, R. F. (1966). The Spiegel affair and the West German press: The initial phase. Public Opinion Quarterly, 30, 54-68.
11.
Conradt, D. P. (1980). Changing German political culture. In G. Almond & S. Verba (Eds.), The civic culture revisited: An analytic study (pp. 212-272). Boston: Little, Brown.
12.
Dean, J. W., III. (1976). Blind ambition: The White House years. New York: Simon & Schuster.
13.
Eps, P., Hartung, U., & Dahlem, S. (1996). Enthuellungsbeitraege und ihre publizistischen Folgen. Journalistische Konsensbildung im Fall Werner Hoefer [Media disclosures and their consequences: Journalistic consonance in the Werner Hoefer case]. Publizistik, 41, 203-223.
14.
Esser, F. (1999). Tabloidization of news: A comparative analysis of Anglo-American and German press journalism. European Journal of Communication, 14, 291-324.
15.
Esser, F., & Brosius, H.-B. (1996). Television as arsonist? The spread of right-wing violence in Germany. European Journal of Communication, 11, 235-260.
16.
Fuchs, D. (1999). The democratic culture of unified Germany. In P. Norris (Ed.), Critical citizens: Global support for democratic government (pp. 123-145). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
17.
Gabriel, O. (1994). Politische Einstellungen und politische Kultur [Political attitudes and political culture]. In O. Gabriel & F. Brettschneider (Eds.), Die EU-Staaten im Vergleich. Strukturen, Prozesse, Politikinhalte (2nd rev. ed., pp. 96-133). Opladen, Germany: Westdeutscher Verlag.
18.
Geiger, T., & Steinbach, A. (1996). Auswirkungen politischer Skandale auf die Karriere der Skandalierten [Effects of political scandals on the careers of those scandalized]. In O. Jarren, H. Schatz, & H. Weßler (Eds.), Medien und politischer Prozeß. Politische Oeffentlichkeit und massenmediale Politikvermittlung (pp. 119-133). Opladen, Germany: Westdeutscher Verlag.
19.
Germany’s Watergate? (2000, January 31). Newsweek, p. 50.
20.
Gluckman, M. (1963). Gossip and scandal. Current Anthropology, 4, 307-316.
21.
Green-Meschke, S. (1993). Gegendarstellung zum Fall Barschel. Die Beschreibung eines verdraengten Skandals [Reply to the Barschel case: Description of a repressed scandal]. Boeblingen, Germany: Tykve Anita.
22.
Gross, J. (1965a). Zur Phaenomenologie des Skandals [On the phenomenology of scandal]. Merkur, 14(205), 398-400.
23.
Gross, J. (1965b). Notiz zu einer Theorie des Skandals [Note to a theory of scandal]. In J. Gross (Ed.), Lauter Nachworte. Innenpolitik nach Adenauer (pp. 161-166). Stuttgart, Germany: Seewald.
24.
Hafner, G. M., & Jacoby, E. (1990). Die Skandale der Republik [The nation’s scandals]. Hamburg, Germany: Hoffmann & Campe.
25.
Hafner, G. M., & Jacoby, E. (1994). Neue Skandale der Republik [The nation’s new scandals]. Hamburg, Germany: Rowohlt.
26.
Haller, M. (2000). Das Affaerenknaeuel entwirren. Interview mit den Top-Rechercheuren Hans Leyendecker und Georg Mascolo [Disentangling the tangle of affairs: Interviews with renowned investigative reporters Hans Leyendecker and Georg Mascolo]. Message, 2(2), 24-35.
27.
Hammer, J., & Theil, S. (2000, January 31). I made mistakes. Newsweek, 50-52.
28.
Harris, R. (1986). Selling Hitler: The extraordinary story of the con job of the century—The faking of the Hitler diaries. New York: Pantheon.
29.
Hondrich, K. O. (1989). Skandalmaerkte und Skandalkultur [Scandal market and scandal culture]. In M. Haller, H. J. Hoffmann-Nowotny, & W. Zapf (Eds.), Kultur und Gesellschaft (pp.575-586). Frankfurt, Germany: Campus.
30.
Kaesler, D. (1991) Der politische Skandal. Zur symbolischen und dramaturgischen Qualitaet von Politik [Political scandal: On the symbolic and dramatic quality of politics]. Opladen, Germany: Westdeutscher Verlag.
31.
Karpen, U. (1993). Germany. In S. Coliver (Ed.), Press law and practice: A comparative study of press freedom in European and other democracies (pp. 78-97). London: International Centre Against Censorship.
32.
Kepplinger, H. M. (1983). German media and oil supply in 1978 and 1979. In N. Smith & L. L. Theberge (Eds.), Energy coverage—media panic: An international perspective (pp.22-49). New York: Longman.
33.
Kepplinger, H. M. (1994). Publizistische Konflikte. Begriffe, Ansaetze, Ergebnisse [Publicized conflicts: Concepts, approaches, findings]. In F. Neidhardt (Ed.), Oeffentlichkeit, oeffentliche Meinung, soziale Bewegungen (pp. 214-233). Opladen, Germany: Westdeutscher Verlag.
34.
Kepplinger, H. M. (1996). Skandalberichterstattung und Politikverdrossenheit: Gibt es einen Zusammenhang? [Scandal coverage and public distrust: Is there a link?] In O. Jarren, H. Schatz, & H. Wessler (Eds.), Medien und politischer Prozeß. Politische Oeffentlichkeit und massenmediale Politikvermittlung (pp. 41-58). Opladen, Germany: Westdeutscher Verlag.
35.
Kepplinger, H. M. (2001a). Die Kunst der Skandalierung und die Illusion der Wahrheit [The art of scandalizing and the illusion of truth]. Munich, Germany: Olzog Verlag.
36.
Kepplinger, H. M. (2001b). Handle the scandal: Some general aspects of scandals and specific remarks on the treatment of Helmut Kohl. Studies in Communication Sciences, 1, 117-136.
37.
Kepplinger, H. M., Ehmig, S. C., & Hartung, U. (2002). Alltaegliche Skandale. Ergebnisse einer repraesentativen Untersuchung [Day to day scandals: Findings of a representative study]. Konstanz, Germany: UVK.
38.
Kepplinger, H. M., Eps, P., & Augustin, D. (1995). Skandal im Wahlbezirk. Der Einflußder Presse auf die Wahl des Muenchner Oberbuergermeisters 1993 [Scandal in the constituency: The effect of press coverage on the 1993 Munich mayoral election]. Publizistik, 40, 305-326.
39.
Kepplinger, H. M., Eps, P., Esser, F., & Gattwinkel, D. (1993). Am Pranger: Der Fall Spaeth und der Fall Stolpe [In the pillory: The cases of Spaeth and Stolpe]. In W. Donsbach, O. Jarren, H. M. Kepplinger, & B. Pfetsch (Eds.), Beziehungsspiele—Medien und Politik in der oeffentlichen Diskussion. Fallstudien und Analysen (pp. 159-220). Guetersloh, UK: Bertelsmann.
40.
Kepplinger, H. M., & Hartung, U. (1993). Am Pranger. Eine Fallstudie zur Rationalitaet oeffentlicher Kommunikation [In the pillory: A case study on the rationality of public communication]. Munich, Germany: Reinhard Fischer.
41.
Kepplinger, H. M., & Hartung, U. (1995). Stoerfall-Fieber. Wie ein Unfall zum Schluesselereignis einer Unfallserie wird [Accident fever: How an accident becomes the key event for a series of accidents]. Freiburg, Germany: Alber.
42.
Kepplinger, H. M., & Roth, H. (1978). Kommunikation in der Oelkrise des Winters 1973/74. Ein Paradigma fuer Wirkungsstudien [Communication in the oil crisis of 1973/74: A paradigm for effects studies]. Publizistik, 23, 337-356.
43.
Kilian, L. M. (1964). Social movements. In R. E. L. Faris (Ed.), Handbook of modern sociology (pp. 426-455). Chicago: Rand McNally.
44.
Kutler, S. I. (1990). The wars of Watergate: The last crisis of Richard M. Nixon. New York: Knopf.
45.
Laermann, K. (1984). Die graessliche Bescherung. Zur Anatomie des politischen Skandals [A hideous mess: On the anatomy of political scandal]. Kursbuch, 77, 159-172.
46.
Lasswell, H. D. (1964). The structure and function of communication in society. In L. Bryson (Ed.), The communication of ideas (2nd ed., pp. 37-51). New York: Cooper Square.
47.
Leif, T. (Ed.) (1998). Leidenschaft: Recherche. Skandalgeschichten und Enthuellungsberichte [A passion for research: Scandal stories and media disclosures]. Opladen, Germany: Westdeutscher Verlag.
48.
Liedtke, R. (1989). Die neue Skandal-Chronik. 40 Jahre Affaeren und Skandale in der Bundesrepublik [The new chronology of scandals: 40 years of affairs and scandals in the Federal Republic of Germany]. Frankfurt, Germany: Eichhorn.
49.
Mathes, R. (1987). Der publizistische Konflikt um das Moderationsverbot fuer Franz Alt. Eine empirische Studie zur oeffentlichen Konfliktkommunikation [The publicized conflict over banning Franz Alt from the television screen: An empirical study of public communication in conflicts]. Publizistik, 32, 166-179.
50.
Mathes, R. (1989). Medienwirkung und Konfliktdynamik in der Auseinandersetzung um die EntlassungvonGeneralKießling [Mediaeffects and conflict dynamic in the controversy over the dismissal of General Kiessling]. In M. Kaase & W. Schulz (Eds.), Massenkommunikation. Theorien, Methoden, Befunde (pp. 441-458). Opladen, Germany: Westdeutscher Verlag.
51.
Merton, R. (1957). Manifest and latent functions. In R. Merton (Eds.), Social theory and social structure (Rev. ed., pp. 19-84). Glencoe, IL: Free Press.
52.
Moser, H. (Ed.). (1989). L’éclat c’est moi. Zur Faszination unserer Skandale [L’éclat c’est moi: On the fascination with our scandals]. Weinheim, Germany: Deutscher Studien Verlag.
53.
Neckel, S. (1986). Das Stellhoelzchen der Macht. Zur Soziologie des politischen Skandals [The trap for power: On the sociology of the political scandal]. Leviathan, 14, 581-605.
54.
Neckel, S. (1988). Macht und Legitimitaet im politischen Skandal [Power and legitimacy in political scandals]. Vorgaenge, 27(6), 38-48.
55.
Neckel, S. (1989). Das Stellhoelzchen der Macht. Zur Soziologie des politischen Skandals [The trap for power: On the sociology of the political scandal]. In R. Ebbighausen & S. Neckel (Eds.), Anatomie des politischen Skandals (pp. 55-80). Frankfurt, Germany: Suhrkamp.
56.
Noelle-Neumann, E., & Koecher, R. (1997). Jahrbuch der Demoskopie [Yearbook of public opinion]. Munich, Germany: Saur.
57.
Olson, K. M. (1995). The function of form in newspapers’political conflict coverage: The New York Times’ shaping of expectations in the Bitburg controversy. Political Communication, 12, 43-64.
58.
Paine, R. (1967). What is gossip about? An alternative hypothesis. Man, 2, 278-285.
59.
Pflueger, F. (2000). Ehrenwort. Das System Kohl und der Neubeginn [Word of honor: Kohl’s system of securing power and the new beginning]. Stuttgart, Germany: Deutsche Verlagsanstalt.
60.
Robertson, G., & Nicol, A. (1992). Media law (3rd ed.). Harmondsworth, UK: Penguin.
61.
Rogers, E. M., & Storey, J. D. (1987). Communication campaigns. In C. R. Berger & S. H. Chaffee (Eds.), Handbook of communication science (pp. 817-846). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
62.
Rumler, F. (2000, December 27). Helden der Deutschen [The German heroes]. Spiegel, 75-80.
63.
Scheuch, E. K., & Scheuch, U. (2000). Die Spendenkrise. Parteien außer Kontrolle [The party donation crisis: Political parties out of control]. Hamburg, Germany: Rowohlt.
64.
Schmitz, M. (1981). Theorie und Praxis des politischen Skandals [Theory and practice of the political scandal]. Frankfurt, Germany: Campus.
65.
Schneider, P. (1971). Presserecht [Media law]. In E. Noelle-Neumann & W. Schulz (Eds.), Fischer Lexikon Publizistik (pp. 269-286). Frankfurt, Germany: Fischer.
66.
Schoenbach, K., Stuerzebecher, D., & Schneider, B. (1998). German journalists in the early 1990s: East and West. In D. Weaver (Ed.), The global journalist: News people around the world (pp. 213-227). Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press.
67.
Schoenbaum, D. (1968). Ein Abgrund von Landesverrat. Die Affaere um den “Spiegel” [On the brink of high treason: The Spiegel affair]. Vienna: Fritz Molden.
68.
Schuetze, C. (1985). Skandal. Eine Psychologie des Unerhoerten [Scandal: A psychology of the outrageous] (2nd rev. ed.). Bern, Germany: Scherz.
69.
Seifert, J. (Ed.). (1966). Die Spiegel-Affaere [The Spiegel affair] (Vol. 2). Olten, Switzerland: Walter.
70.
Shibutani, T. (1966). Improvised news: A sociological study of rumor. Indianapolis, IN: Bobbs-Merrill.
71.
Simons, H. W., & Mechling, E. W. (1981). The rhetoric of political movements. In D. D. Nimmo & K. R. Sanders (Eds.), Handbook of political communication (pp. 417-444). Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
72.
Strodthoff, G. G., Hawkins, R. P., & Schoenfeld, A. C. (1985). Media roles in a social movement: A model of ideology diffusion. Journal of Communication, 35(2), 134-153.
73.
Thompson, J. B. (2000). Political scandal: Power and visibility in the media age. Cambridge, UK: Polity.
74.
The toppling of Helmut Kohl. (2000, January 8). The Economist.
75.
Weidmann, K. (2000). Enthuellung als Politshow [Disclosure as political show biz]. Message, 2(2), 18-22.
76.
Weischenberg, S., Loeffelholz, M., & Scholl, A. (1998). Journalism in Germany. In D. Weaver (Ed.), The global journalist: News people around the world (pp. 229-255). Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press.
77.
Wright, C. R. (1960). Functional analysis and mass communication. Public Opinion Quarterly, 24, 605-620.
