When Culture Speaks: Accent Variation and Policy Engagement in the European Parliament

Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) face the complex task of representing their national citizens while working with other representatives to shape European Union (EU)-wide policies. Studies investigating the drivers of MEP behaviour (i.e. deliberation, coalition-building, voting) primarily emphasize factors such as ideological beliefs, national party preferences, political group cohesion and loyalty, or length of service. Despite growing recognition of cultural dynamics in EU governance (McNamara, 2015), surprisingly scant attention has been paid to how considerations of ‘culture’ shape MEP behaviour. To address this gap, we set to investigate: How do cultural considerations impact interpersonal perceptions and behavioural intentions in the European Parliament (EP)? More specifically, we propose an audio-vignette survey experiment to test the effects of cultural considerations on policy engagement in the EP. Theoretically, the study draws on social psychology to explore how cultural considerations - understood as the perception of an actor’s traits, values, and social identity, based on the actor’s (perceived) cultural background (Arshad & Chung, 2022; Tajfel & Turner, 2004) shape behaviour in the EP. Accents are among the most immediate and salient cues for social categorization, allowing listeners to infer a speaker’s cultural background, regional affiliation, or social identity within milliseconds (Rakić et al., 2011). Even subtle variations in accent can trigger evaluative judgments based on stereotypes associated with national or regional groups, shaping perceptions of an actor’s competence, trustworthiness, and legitimacy based on their (perceived) social group membership. By experimentally varying accents of speakers introducing a new policy, we seek to provide first causal evidence of how cultural considerations – activated via a salient language cue, trigger evaluations of speakers and the decision to engage in EP policy discussions. The experiment presents a standardized audio vignette in which participants receive a (hypothetical) invitation to discuss a new policy. Participants are randomly assigned to one of four experimental groups varying the speaker's English accent (northern, southern, eastern, and western European). The study recruits MEP-accredited parliamentary assistants as proxies for MEPs, as they share the same multicultural and institutional environment. This ensures that the cognitive and social dynamics observed closely reflect those of MEPs. The findings of the experiment will offer new insights into behavioral governance within the EP and highlight the broader role of cultural considerations in EU policymaking. Data collection for this study is funded by the SGEU FUTURE Research Grant. References Arshad, M., & Chung, J. M. (2022). Practical recommendations for considering culture, race, and ethnicity in personality psychology. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 16(2). McNamara, K. R. (2015). JCMS Annual Review Lecture: Imagining Europe: The Cultural Foundations of EU Governance. JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies, 53(S1), 22–39. Rakić, T., Steffens, M. C., & Mummendey, A. (2011). Blinded by the accent! The minor role of looks in ethnic categorization. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 100(1), 16–29. Tajfel, H., & Turner, J. C. (2004). The social identity theory of intergroup behavior. Political Psychology, 276–293.