for their assistance with the statistical analyses. We are also grateful to Iliana Saidi and Ophélie Jouanne for their help with data collection of Study 2. Finally, we wish to thank the anonymous reviewers, and especially the associate editor of the journal, Heather Smith, for their useful comments on the previous versions of the manuscript.
The purpose of this paper is to test the main hypothesis that the endorsement of neoliberal ideology, comprising beliefs and values such as personal responsibility and hedonism, is negatively associated with the engagement in the Yellow Vest (YV) movement. In a first study (N = 489), analysis of qualitative data shows that most of the YV movement grievances are system challenging. Furthermore, consistent with our hypotheses, the more participants endorsed neoliberal ideology, the less they perceived inequalities against the lower and middle classes, the less angry they felt in the face of such inequalities, the less they identified with the Yellow Vests and finally, the less they engaged in the Yellow Vest movement. In Study 2 (N = 201), the relationship between neoliberal ideology, measured in a different way, and engagement in the movement was replicated amongst a sample of participants who support the YV movement. Moreover, it appeared that this relationship was mediated by a greater sense of personal control, leading to a higher level of system justification. In fact, neoliberal ideology appears to enhance personal control, giving them a heightened sense that the system is just and legitimate. This perception, in turn, appears to undermine the politicized identification with the Yellow Vest and as a consequence, engagement in the movement.
This article adds to the existing literature on neoliberal ideology by investigating its content and contours in a context historically marked by statism. Very few studies in social psychology have looked at how neoliberal ideology transpires out of people's discourses and none have done so in such contexts. Yet, this appears necessary in order to better understand its actual influence and how it interacts with localized norms. Relying on a qualitative analysis of 32 semi-structured interviews and on the existing literature, we identified five central themes of neoliberal ideology in France: State prerogatives, competition, abstraction from institutional and social contexts, the entrepreneurial self and emotional management. Results suggest that the influence of neoliberal ideology transpires in the way people envision competition as something natural and motivating, in the way they distance themselves from their immediate and distant contexts, and in the way they value and engage in self-regulation while pursuing happiness and self-optimization. We also found that, in the French context, neoliberal ideology was not necessarily associated to the willingness to see the State step back and to the rationalization of all types of inequalities. Indeed, in the eyes of participants, the State largely remains the guarantor of public services and should ensure an equality of opportunity. This study highlights the value of relying on a qualitative approach to provide a rich and complex account of social realities such as ideologies.
We created a novel instrument to assess individual orientations toward the neoliberal capitalist system, the Neoliberal Orientation Questionnaire (NOQ), which is comprised of four dimensions: competitiveness, individual self-regulation, relational detachment, and public divestment. The instrument was intended to complement existing scales by (a) adopting a European perspective, and (b) incorporating personal as well as societal values, including lifestyle considerations. We sought to validate the NOQ in a European country with a strong history of public investment and social welfare provisions, namely France. In three nationally representative French samples, and one US student sample we assessed the internal consistency and construct validity of long and short versions of the scale. In terms of convergent and divergent validity, NOQ scores were positively correlated with scores on the Neoliberal Beliefs Inventory (NBI), general and economic forms of system justification, social dominance orientation, social and economic conservatism, internal locus of control, belief in free will, future-orientation, and a tendency to look on the ‘bright side’ in the face of hardships. The NOQ should prove useful for understanding the antecedents, concomitants, and consequences of attitudinal support versus opposition to the neoliberal capitalist system that dominates contemporary Western societies.
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