In search of an appropriate channel for voicing political concerns: political participation among radicalised youth in Europe.

This research aims to identify values related to political and civic participation methods among the two groups of radicalised youngsters: native youth who support movements labelled as far-right (N= 122) and migrant-origin self-identified Muslim youth with strong organisational ties with religious communities (N=109) in Germany, Belgium, France, and the Netherlands. The study posits that these these radically aligned youngsters position themselves against politically moderate European citizens, who are less intuitive when making judgements on political affairs comparing to them. Diverging from the unifying European values and hypersensitivities, these youngsters' political reactions are often radical and loud in their safe-to-speak, segregated movements. By using the narrations of the range of mainstream modes of political participation, the current qualitative research asks what appears valuable for the two groups of young people to express their political discontent. Findings revealed that both groups highlighted similar values regarding voting. Self-identified Muslim youth stressed the importance of volunteering and street protests (despite not having participated in one). Many native youths, on the other hand, stressed the function of unlawful behaviour in street protests to pursue political objectives. The findings such as these are discussed considering the group differences.

Right-wing authoritarianism, social dominance, system justification, and conservative political ideology as predictors of mental health stigma: The Hungarian case.

BACKGROUND: Insights from mental health stigma research indicate the importance of societal and political views on mental health perceptions. Most studies originate from typical Western neo-liberal settings and focus on generic mental health issues. Our research explores these associations in Hungary, an understudied post-communist context with significant stigma levels, examining a broad range of stigmas related to both general and three specific mental illnesses: schizophrenia, depression, and alcohol use disorder (AUD). AIMS: The study aims to connect a wide array of political dispositions to stigma associated with both general and specific mental illnesses, exploring both attitudes and behavioral intentions. METHODS: We surveyed 492 participants (147 males, 342 females) on their political dispositions, including Right-Wing Authoritarianism (RWA), Social Dominance Orientation (SDO), general and economic system justification, and conservative political ideology, and their attitudes toward general and specific mental illnesses. Regression analyses identified key political dispositions influencing stigma. RESULTS: RWA was significantly linked to most stigma outcomes, while conservative political ideology showed a selective impact. Other predictors had minimal influence on stigma outcomes. CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest that perceptions of danger, threat, and unconventionality, as indicated by RWA, are crucial for mental health stigmatization in Hungary. Intervention programs should target these factors, particularly in similar contexts.

Income change and sympathy for right-wing populist parties in the Netherlands: The role of gender and income inequality within households.

The global rise of right-wing populist [RWP] parties presents a major political concern. RWP parties' voters tend to be citizens who have either experienced or fear economic deprivation. Income change constitutes a viable measure of this deprivation. However, previous contributions examining effects of income change on support for RWP parties have yielded diverging conclusions. This paper challenges previous findings by incorporating considerations of gender and within-household inequality. We hypothesise a negative relationship between, on the one hand, personal and household income change and, on the other hand, sympathy towards RWP parties. Furthermore, we expect to find a stronger association between personal income change and RWP sympathy among men. Moreover, we expect the relationship between household income change and RWP sympathy to differ between genders. Finally, we hypothesise that this gender disparity can be interpreted by considering who contributes most to the household income. All these hypotheses are grounded in gender socialisation and economic dominance theories. Analysing Dutch LISS longitudinal data spanning from 2007 to 2021 (N = 7,801, n = 43,954) through fixed-effects multilevel linear regression models enables us to address various competing explanations. It appears that only for men, personal income change is negatively linked with sympathies towards RWP parties. However, considering who is the highest earner within households reveals that women are also affected by their personal income change if they earn the highest income. For both men and women, household income change is negatively linked with sympathies towards RWP parties. These results lend partial support to both the socialisation and economic dominance theories. The implications of these findings are discussed.

Discrimination against suspected Islamic terrorists: Nationality, right-wing authoritarianism, and perceived threat as predictors of support for torture.

This research investigates discrimination against suspected Islamic terrorists based on tolerance for the use of torture. This research is justified by the need to identify how intergroup and ideological factors combine to express discrimination. Two experimental studies were conducted with a between-subjects design. Study 1 (N = 282) analysed the terrorist threat against the ingroup and the nationality of torturers with respect to support for torture against suspected Islamic terrorists. Study 2 (N = 165) analysed the interaction among terrorist threat against the ingroup and perceived threat (realistic and symbolic) as moderators in the relationship between RWA and discrimination. Study 1 indicated that support for torture was greater when the victims of terrorist acts and the torturers belonged to the ingroup. Study 2 indicated that the perceived threat encourages support for the use of torture, regardless of the levels of RWA. Taken together, these results elucidate the psychosocial processes that are present in the hostility towards social minorities from predominantly Muslim countries and in the strengthening of xenophobic political positions.

Attachment and Political Personality are Heritable and Distinct Systems, and Both Share Genetics with Interpersonal Trust and Altruism.

The attachment and caregiving domains maintain proximity and care-giving behavior between parents and offspring, in a way that has been argued to shape people's mental models of how relationships work, resulting in secure, anxious or avoidant interpersonal styles in adulthood. Several theorists have suggested that the attachment system is closely connected to orientations and behaviors in social and political domains, which should be grounded in the same set of familial experiences as are the different attachment styles. We use a sample of Norwegian twins (N = 1987) to assess the genetic and environmental relationship between attachment, trust, altruism, right-wing authoritarianism (RWA), and social dominance orientation (SDO). Results indicate no shared environmental overlap between attachment and ideology, nor even between the attachment styles or between the ideological traits, challenging conventional wisdom in developmental, social, and political psychology. Rather, evidence supports two functionally distinct systems, one for navigating intimate relationships (attachment) and one for navigating social hierarchies (RWA/SDO), with genetic overlap between traits within each system, and two distinct genetic linkages to trust and altruism. This is counter-posed to theoretical perspectives that link attachment, ideology, and interpersonal orientations through early relational experiences.

Falling behind whom? Economic geographies of right-wing populism in Europe.

Existing studies suggest that right-wing populist parties (RWPPs) appeal to people in communities that have fallen behind in material terms. However, it remains open which benchmark communities apply as they become politically discontented. We argue that the structure of territorial inequalities influences the benchmarks used by people in regions falling behind. Panel data regressions using subnational election results in EU states from 1990 to 2018 reveal a sharp contrast between the economic geographies of right-wing populism in core and peripheral EU member states. We find a strong association between falling behind the richest region of the country and RWPP support within core EU countries, while in peripheral EU states falling behind the EU core is associated with regional support for RWPPs. This suggests that RWPP voters in peripheral countries cue on how they are faring relative to the EU core, while RWPP supporters in core countries cue on how they are faring relative to dynamic regions of their own country. Our analysis also shows that increased manufacturing employment reinforces the effect of falling behind the richest region in core EU member states, while we find no strong evidence that regional economic stagnation is important to the electoral performance of RWPPs.

The dispositional need for cognitive closure indirectly predicts mock jurors' sentencing decisions through right-wing authoritarianism.

One reason people are motivated to hold right-wing authoritarian beliefs is the need to manage uncertainty. Right-wing authoritarianism provides a stable source of black-and-white 'answers' about the social world - obey established authorities and norms and show hostility to deviants. Right-wing authoritarianism, in turn, is positively associated with more punitive attitudes and judgements. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between mock capital jurors' need for cognitive closure and sentencing decisions through right-wing authoritarianism. Four-hundred and fifty-one jury-eligible adults read a hypothetical capital case, weighed aggravating and mitigating evidence and chose a sentence. They also responded to items measuring right-wing authoritarianism and the need for cognitive closure. The need for cognitive closure was indirectly related to choosing a death sentence through right-wing authoritarianism and the weighing of aggravators and mitigators. Theoretical and practical implications, as well as directions for future studies, are discussed.

'Like we definitely have to go greener, but ': Analysing affective-discursive practices in populist environmental discourse.

Previous studies on environmental issues in right-wing populism have mostly focused on political actors and their argumentation. In contrast, this study examines environmental populist discourse from the perspective of laypeople in Finland. We used interviews (n = 25) to analyse affective-discursive practices in environmental talk, identifying four partly interrelated practices: belittling the 'annoying liberals', constructing the ordinary rural people as victims, externalizing blame to the 'real' polluters, and glorifying Finnish nature. These practices shed light on subject positions, affect, and functions in environmental discourse. Our contributions to the field of social psychology are threefold. First, we apply an affective-discursive approach in a novel context, deepening our understanding of affect in environmental populism. Second, we explore the nuanced features of populist reasoning and argumentation, shedding light on the functions and social implications of populist environmental discourse. Third, our analysis of identities and the discourse of laypeople provides insights into the dynamics that contribute to the polarization around environmental issues in society. We argue that the sceptical environmental discourse associated with right-wing populism may persist precisely due to the affective and polarized nature of environmental issues.

Attitudes Toward Cisgender Women's Participation in Sex Work: Opportunity for Agency or Harmful Exchange?

Despite the stigmatization of sex work in society, little empirical research has examined attitudes toward sex work, especially its modern incarnations (e.g., sugar relationships, webcamming). Here, a sample of 298 US residents (Mage = 40.06 years; 59.1% male, 40.9% female) was recruited through Amazon Mechanical Turk. Various theoretical predictors (e.g., right-wing authoritarianism [RWA]), sociosexuality) were set to predict the degree to which four sex work domains (prostitution, pornography, sugar relationships, webcamming) provide cisgender women agency (beneficial) or harm them (detrimental). We found that the domains of sex work were organized hierarchically, as theorized by the so-called "whorearchy," whereby the more "unfavorable" domains (e.g., prostitution) fall at the bottom, and the more "favorable" ones (e.g., webcamming) sit at the top. Additionally, multiple regression analyses revealed that RWA (negatively) and sociosexuality (positively) were the strongest predictors of sex work agency across various domains. In predicting harm, RWA, feminism, religiosity, and age were unique positive predictors, whereas sociosexuality and male (vs. female) self-identified sex were unique negative predictors, across the four domains of sex work. Moreover, individual differences (e.g., RWA) were often significantly stronger predictors of agency or harm among female than male participants. The results suggest that although sex work domains vary in agency and harm ratings, individual differences (most notably, RWA and sociosexuality) are important predictors across domains, especially for cisgender women. Given the growing prevalence of such online forms of sex work, along with growing evidence of sugar relationships, it will become increasingly important to track reactions as these forms of sex work evolve.

Is conservative opposition to climate change threat-based? Articulating an integrated threat model of climate change attitudes.

Throughout the literature, there are assertions that those endorsing conservative ideologies reject the science and solutions of climate change due to perceived threat. That is, they fear that accepting climate change means accepting problems with a favoured socioeconomic system and supporting action on climate change threatens to disrupt these systems. We draw together lines of research and reasoning on this topic to outline three key predictions this perspective makes about the drivers of conservative denial of climate change and opposition to climate policy. The first is that an asymmetry exists in climate-related threat perceptions, whereby greater endorsement of conservative ideology predicts lower perceived threat from climate change and greater perceived threat from climate reform. Second, climate-related threat perceptions are multifaceted, such that threats to economic and cultural well-being can be experienced, at personal or collective levels. Third, the asymmetry in threat perceptions explains conservatives' lower support for pro-climate reforms. We then specify a new integrated threat model of climate change attitudes, review the current evidence for and against each prediction in this model and outline ways to interrogate these theoretical predictions with empirical research. Doing so will advance understanding of the underpinnings of ideological disagreement on climate change.

Opposite effects of RWA and SDO on war support: Chinese public opinion toward Russia's war in Ukraine.

Previous research has identified the combined effects of Right-Wing Authoritarianism (RWA) and Social Dominance Orientation (SDO) on individuals' militant attitudes. Much of the existing studies have been conducted in the United States and Europe, where political cleavage is drawn between liberalism and conservatism and where RWA and SDO are aligned with conservatism. In this article, we argue that in a different ideological backdrop where RWA and SDO are not bound by conservative ideology, their influence on war support varies. We use the case study of China, in which socialist ideology upholds authoritarianism but opposes social dominance. We hypothesize that in a war in which the state acquiesces, regime loyalists high on RWA and low on SDO tend to back the war, while regime critics low on RWA and high on SDO are less supportive. Using longitudinal data with a nationwide online sample (Time 1: N = 1000, Time 2: N = 500) collected during the war in Ukraine, we confirmed the opposite effects of RWA (measured by the traditionalism subscale) and SDO (measured by the dominance subscale) on war support. The findings extend our understanding of the impacts of authoritarianism and social dominance in a context beyond the United States and Europe.

An Epidemiological Analysis of Terrorist Attacks in the Nordic and Baltic Countries from 1970 through 2020.

BACKGROUND: Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014, and the recent Russo-Ukrainian war that started in 2022, were triggers that radically changed the perception of security in the Nordic and Baltic countries. The on-going Russian hybrid war has resulted in a renewed global interest in the safety and security of many countries (eg, the Nordic-Baltic Eight). The prospective North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) membership of Finland and Sweden may drastically change the regional military and political landscape.The objective of this study was to identify and characterize all documented terrorist attacks in this region as reported to the Global Terrorism Database (GTD) from 1970 through 2020. METHODS: The GTD was searched using the internal database functions for all terrorism incidents in the Nordic-Baltic states: Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, and Sweden.Temporal factors, location, target type, attack and weapon type, perpetrator type, number of casualties, and property value loss were collated. Results were exported into an Excel spreadsheet for analysis. RESULTS: There were 298 terrorism-related incidents from 1970 through 2020. Most attacks occurred in Sweden, followed by Norway and Finland. No entries were recorded for the Baltic states prior to their independency in 1991. The 298 incidents resulted in a total of 113 fatalities and 277 injuries.Facility/infrastructure attacks were the most frequently identified attack type (35.0%), followed by bombings and explosions (30.9%). Armed assaults were responsible for 80 fatalities and 105 injuries, followed by bombings/explosions with 15 fatalities and 72 injuries. The predominant target types were immigrants and refugee shelters (64/298 incidents). In only 33.6% of the incidents, perpetrators were known. Right-wing assailants represented the largest group, accounting for 27 incidents. CONCLUSION: From 1970 through 2020, there were 298 terrorist attacks in the Nordic-Baltic Eight. Sweden accounted for 50% of incidents.The profile of terrorist attacks was very diverse, as were the perpetrators and targets. Every country had its own incident characteristics. The surge of right-wing extremism must be closely monitored.

The association between system-justifying ideologies and attitudes toward the social market economy in Germany.

Although the legitimacy of an economic system is often dependent on citizen support, psychological research has paid little attention to attitudes toward economic systems. In the present study, we examined the link between two system-justifying ideologies, namely, right-wing authoritarianism (RWA) and social dominance orientation (SDO), and attitudes toward the social market economy in Germany. Drawing on system justification theory, we hypothesized that RWA would be positively and SDO negatively associated with support for the social market economy because the social component of the German economic system conflicts with beliefs inherent in SDO favoring a group-based hierarchy. Based on a quota sample of German adults (N = 886), we found support for the predicted associations of both system-justifying ideologies with economic system support, except that RWA was negatively associated with support for the welfare component of the social market economy. However, the positive relationship of RWA with support for the social market economy only emerged after SDO was statistically controlled, suggesting a suppressor situation. These findings demonstrate that system-justifying ideologies bear different relations to pro-market attitudes depending on the type of economic regime. Implications for system justification theory are discussed. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12144-023-04483-7.

Appropriating the civil sphere: the construction of German collective identity by right-wing populist actors during the Covid-19 pandemic.

This paper considers the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on right-wing populists' constructions of German collective identity. In their "Covid-19 crisis" narratives, German populists attempted to rearrange the discursive and institutional space of the German civil sphere through a symbolic inversion of the heroic signifier and legitimization of violence against perceived enemies. To analyze such discursive dynamics, this paper utilizes multilayered narrative analysis, drawing on the synthesis of civil sphere theory, the anthropological conceptualization of the relationship between mimetic crisis and symbolic substitution of violence and the sociological narrative theory of the sacralization and desacralization of heroism. This analysis structures the investigation of positive and negative symbolic constructions of German collective identity by German right-wing populist narratives. The analysis shows that although German right-wing populists are politically peripheral, their affective, antagonistic and anti-elite narratives contribute to the semantic erosion of the liberal democratic core of the German civil sphere. This in turn reduces the ability of democratic institutions to control violence and leads to the restriction of civil solidarity. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1057/s41290-023-00189-2.

Validation of the subtle and blatant prejudice towards Bolivian immigrants scale in Argentina.

Even though prejudice towards Bolivian immigrants is one of the main reasons for discrimination in Argentina, there is no valid measure to assess it. The aim of this study was to explore the psychometric properties of the subtle and blatant prejudice towards Bolivian immigrants scale. In addition, we tested correlations with right-wing authoritarianism, social dominance orientation, feelings towards Bolivian immigrants, and ideological self-placement. Data was collected through a convenience sample of 431 undergraduate students from Buenos Aires, with an age range from 18 to 45 years old (38.75% men and 61.25% women). Results showed adequate psychometric properties for the scale. Moreover, significant correlations between subtle and blatant prejudice and the other psychosocial variables tested were found. Implications of these findings are discussed.

Unethical behaviour in the military: The role of supervisor ethicality, ethical climate, and right-wing authoritarianism.

Using an anonymous self-report survey of 350 Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) personnel, this study investigated the effect of perceptions of the ethicality of one's immediate supervisor (supervisor ethics), right-wing authoritarianism (RWA), and ethical climate on self-reported unethical behavior in the form of discrimination and obeying an unlawful command (past behavior, behavioral intentions). As well, we investigated how supervisor ethics and RWA interact when predicting unethical behavior, and whether ethical climate mediated the relation between supervisor ethics and self-reported unethical behavior. Unethical behavior depended on perceptions of the ethicality of one's supervisor and RWA. RWA predicted discrimination toward a gay man (behavioral intentions), and supervisor ethics predicted discrimination against outgroups of people, and obedience of an unlawful command (past behavior). As well, the effects of ethical supervision on discrimination (past behavior, behavioral intentions) depended on participants' level of RWA . Finally, ethical climate mediated the relation between supervisor ethics and obeying an unlawful command, such that higher perceptions of supervisor ethics led to a higher ethical climate, which led to less obedience of an unlawful command in the past. This suggests that leaders can affect the ethical climate of on organization, which in turn affects ethical behavior of followers.

Neuroanatomical correlates of system-justifying ideologies: a pre-registered voxel-based morphometry study on right-wing authoritarianism and social dominance orientation.

System-justifying ideologies are a cluster of ideals that perpetuate a hierarchical social system despite being fraught with inequalities. Right-wing authoritarianism (RWA) and social dominance orientation (SDO) are two ideologies that have received much attention in the literature separately and together. Given that these ideologies are considered to be stable individual differences that are likely to have an evolutionary basis, there has yet to be any examination for volumetric brain structures associated with these variables. Here, we proposed an investigation of overlapping and non-overlapping brain regions associated with RWA and SDO in a sample recruited in Singapore. Indeed, it will be interesting to determine how RWA and SDO correlate in a country that proactively promotes institutionalized multi-culturalism such as Singapore. RWA and SDO scores were collected via self-report measures from healthy individuals (39 males and 43 females; age 25.89 ± 5.68 years). Consequently, voxel-based morphometry (VBM) whole brain and region of interest (ROI) analyses were employed to identify neuroanatomical correlates of these system-justifying ideologies. RWA and SDO scores were strongly correlated despite the low ideological contrast in Singapore's sociopolitical context. The whole brain analysis did not reveal any significant clusters associated with either RWA or SDO. The ROI analyses revealed clusters in the bilateral amygdala and ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) that were associated with both RWA and SDO scores, whereas two clusters in the left anterior insula were negatively associated with only SDO scores. The study corroborates the claim of RWA and SDO as stable individual differences with identifiable neuroanatomical correlates, but our exploratory analysis suggests evidence that precludes any definitive conclusion based on the present evidence.

Attitudes toward COVID-19 vaccine mandate: The role of psychological characteristics and partisan self-identification.

Governments around the world are increasingly considering vaccine mandates to curb the spread of COVID-19. In May 2022, we surveyed 394 residents of South Dakota to examine predictors of popular attitudes toward a COVID-19 vaccine mandate. We investigated the role of Big Five personality traits, right-wing authoritarianism, and social dominance orientation, as well as partisan self-identification, evangelical identity, and COVID-19 vaccination status. Results showed that Big Five personality traits (openness and emotional stability), right-wing authoritarianism, social dominance orientation, evangelical identity, and partisan self-identification are linked to attitudes toward a COVID-19 vaccine mandate. Our findings underscore the politicization of the COVID-19 pandemic as well as the impact of dispositional factors on attitudes toward mandatory COVID-19 vaccination.

The role of the COVID-19 impersonal threat strengthening the associations of right-wing attitudes, nationalism and anti-immigrant sentiments.

Literature showed that the link between right-wing attitudes and ethnocentric attitudes gets stronger under existential threats, but the role exerted by an impersonal threat - as COVID-19 - on right-wing attitudes is still unclear. This study aimed to highlight the role of anxiety exerted by the impersonal COVID-19 threat on the relationship between right-wing attitudes and ethnocentric attitudes, as nationalism and anti-immigrants' sentiments. As part of an international project to evaluate the impact of COVID-19, this study administered an online survey to a representative sample (n 1038). The anxiety generated by an impersonal threat as COVID-19 - thus not exerted by any outgroup - can moderate the relationship among personal Right-Wing Authoritarianism, social dominance orientation, and ethnocentric attitudes. This is the first study demonstrating that existential threat is effective also when exerted by an impersonal agent (as COVID-19) rather than by an outgroup. Second, these findings disclose useful implications for preventive psychological interventions and for social policy makers. Supplementary information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12144-023-04305-w.

Angry populists or concerned citizens? How linguistic emotion ascriptions shape affective, cognitive, and behavioural responses to political outgroups.

Emotion expressions of outgroup members inform judgements and prompt affective responses in observers, shaping intergroup relations. However, in the context of political group conflicts, emotions are not always directly observed in face-to-face interactions. Instead, they are frequently linguistically ascribed to particular actors or groups. Examples of such emotion ascriptions are found, among others, in media reports and political campaign messaging. For instance, anger and fear are frequently evoked in connection with and ascribed to right-wing populist groups. Yet not much is known about the specific effects that ascriptions of discrete emotions to outgroups can have on intergroup relations. With this pre-registered study, we contribute to bridging this gap by analysing the effects of ascriptions of anger and fear to a right-wing populist outgroup. In an online survey experiment, administered to a sample of the German general population (N = 3500), we manipulated the emotions ascribed to these outgroups using brief vignettes. Our findings suggest that ascriptions of anger to right-wing populist outgroups increase reactive anger in observers, whereas ascriptions of fear reduce anger as well as contempt towards populists. Effects of ascribed emotions on stereotype content and action tendencies could not be identified.