Political incivility from different points of view

Although research on political incivility has expanded rapidly, a shared definition of the concept remains elusive. Existing studies typically rely on scholars’ interpretations and ask citizens to evaluate pre-selected examples, rather than eliciting citizens’ own understandings. This approach limits the precision of analytical findings and weakens assessments of democratic degradation. This study examines Italian citizens’ perceptions of political incivility during the 2024 European elections and compares them with prevailing academic definitions. While around 30% of respondents reported being unfamiliar with the term, almost all nonetheless offered a definition – a pattern consistent with respondent satisficing. This suggests that, although political incivility primarily functions as a scholarly label, citizens possess an intuitive understanding of the phenomenon. Overall, citizen and academic definitions largely converge. However, citizens also emphasize anti-politics as a distinct dimension, indicating that political incivility is an evolving concept that extends beyond individual behaviour to encompass systemic failures, and thus calls for renewed reflection on the relationship between citizens and politics.