Dr. Rico Neumann

Rico Neumann is a postdoctoral researcher at the Center for Civil Society Research at WZB Berlin and the Institute of Sociology in the Department of Political Science and Social Sciences at Freie Universität Berlin where he is also an associate fellow at the Institute for Media and Communication Studies. As part of the Einstein Research Unit 'Coping with Affective Polarization', he currently examines how civil society groups navigate polarized information environments, with a particular emphasis on discursive dynamics, communication strategies and language patterns. Prior to that, he worked as a postdoc at the Institute of Language and Communication at Technische Universität Berlin where he analyzed discourses of social cohesion, for example, how civil society organizations articulate aspects like solidarity, identity or values, and to what degree organizations are verbally attacked for their civic engagement in digital spaces. He completed his dissertation on intergroup media portrayals and their effects on prosocial orientations at the University of Washington in Seattle in 2021. Prior to that, he studied communication at the University of Arizona in Tucson and the University of Leipzig. His teaching focuses on empirical research methods, media effects and political language. His research interests lie at the intersection of political communication, public opinion, and intergroup phenomena. 

Projects:

Coping with Affective Polarization (Einstein Research Unit), 2024-27

Social Cohesion and Civil Society: Discourses of Cohesion (Berlin University Alliance), 2021-24

Public Consultations in the EU: Powers and Pitfalls of Citizen Outreach

Selected Publications:

Neumann, Rico/Pfetsch, Barbara/Hutter, Swen/Koschut, Simon/Schieferdecker, David/Specht, Jule (2025). "Value Orientations and Social Cohesion in Organizational Discourses: A Civil Society Perspective." In: Information, Communication & Society. Accepted. DOI: 10.1080/1369118X.2025.2534719 

Neumann, Rico/Lang, Sabine/Meng, Phillip (2025). "'Have Your Say' in Practice: Citizens' Use of the EU's Public Consultation Platform." In: European Politics and Society. Online First. DOI: 10.1080/23745118.2025.2471877

Neumann, Rico/Moy, Patricia (2025). "News Media and the Shifting Contours of Citizen Engagement." In: Political Science Quarterly. Online First. DOI: 10.1093/psquar/qqaf04

Len-Ríos, María E./Neumann, Rico/Kim, Solyee (2024): "Challenging Politicians on Race in Interviews: Social Dominance Orientation, Perceived Journalistic Credibility, Bias, and Appropriateness." In: Journalism Practice, Vol. 18, No. 2, S. 413-432. DOI: 10.1080/17512786.2023.2242826

Neumann, Rico/Pfetsch, Barbara/Hutter, Swen/Koschut, Simon/Schieferdecker, David/Specht, Jule (2023). "The Rhetoric of Solidarity: Nature and Measurement of Social Cohesion in the Self-Representation of Civil Society Organizations." In: Social Indicators Research, Vol. 169, No. 3, S. 863-882. DOI: 10.1007/s11205-023-03163-0

Moy, Patricia/Neumann, Rico (2023). "Political Communication, Culture, and Society." New York: Routledge. DOI: 10.4324/9781003391692

Silber, Henning/Moy, Patricia/Johnson, Timothy/Neumann, Rico/Stadtmüller, Sven/Repke, Lydia (2022). "Survey Participation as a Function of Democratic Engagement, Trust in Institutions, and Perceptions of Surveys." In: Social Science Quarterly, Vol. 103, No. 7, S. 1619-1632. DOI: 10.1111/ssqu.13218

Neumann, Rico/Geary, Devon (2019). "Reaching Muslims from the Bully Pulpit: Analyzing Modern Presidential Discourse on Islam and Muslims from FDR to Trump." In: International Journal of Communication, Vol. 13, S. 4107–4129. ISSN: 1932–8036/20190005