Wenn Du gehst, geh ich auch! Die Rolle von Informationskaskaden bei der Entstehung von Massenbewegungen

This paper studies the epistemic dynamics preceding the emergence of mass movements. By means of an agent-based simulation, we study the informational processes generating those shared attitudes towards a political system that are necessary for mass movements. We show that societies of lower mobility will structurally underestimate the potential for political change. Moreover, we find systematic differences in attitudes between critics and supporters of a regime. A side-effect of the emergent informational dynamics is that system critics will, over time, develop higher estimates of the potential for change than their less discontent peers.