TY - JOUR
T1 - Let the people’s will prevail
T2 - Self-uncertainty and authoritarianism predict support for populism
AU - Gøtzsche-Astrup, Oluf
AU - Hogg, Michael A.
PY - 2024/9
Y1 - 2024/9
N2 - Recent years have witnessed a widespread rise of right-wing populism—an ideology maintaining that the will of the people is supreme, but is subverted by antagonistic elites. Drawing on uncertainty-identity theory, three studies (total N = 5,882) tested the hypothesis that uncertainty would only strengthen support for populism among low authoritarian respondents. Studies 1 and 2 were secondary analyses of American National Election Survey (ANES) 2012 and 2016 data. They supported our key hypotheses in explaining support for the populist American Tea Party (Study 1, N = 1,917), and support for right-wing populist ideology and voting preference for Donald Trump rather than Hillary Clinton (Study 2, N = 2,520). Study 3 (N = 1,445) experimentally manipulated self-uncertainty to allow a causal interpretation, and focused on right-wing populist ideology. The results are discussed in terms of their contribution to uncertainty-identity theory, and their societal relevance in an environment of growing populism.
AB - Recent years have witnessed a widespread rise of right-wing populism—an ideology maintaining that the will of the people is supreme, but is subverted by antagonistic elites. Drawing on uncertainty-identity theory, three studies (total N = 5,882) tested the hypothesis that uncertainty would only strengthen support for populism among low authoritarian respondents. Studies 1 and 2 were secondary analyses of American National Election Survey (ANES) 2012 and 2016 data. They supported our key hypotheses in explaining support for the populist American Tea Party (Study 1, N = 1,917), and support for right-wing populist ideology and voting preference for Donald Trump rather than Hillary Clinton (Study 2, N = 2,520). Study 3 (N = 1,445) experimentally manipulated self-uncertainty to allow a causal interpretation, and focused on right-wing populist ideology. The results are discussed in terms of their contribution to uncertainty-identity theory, and their societal relevance in an environment of growing populism.
KW - authoritarianism
KW - intergroup relations
KW - populism
KW - self-uncertainty
KW - social identity
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85180701815&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/13684302231211291
DO - 10.1177/13684302231211291
M3 - Journal article
AN - SCOPUS:85180701815
SN - 1368-4302
VL - 27
SP - 1211
EP - 1232
JO - Group Processes & Intergroup Relations
JF - Group Processes & Intergroup Relations
IS - 6
ER -