Beyond Religion

Abstract

By equating the traditional mindset with traditional beliefs (in magic, ritual, superstitions, etc.), several studies have consistently shown that such beliefs significantly influence people's political behavior and preferences. While these studies have highlighted the political consequences of a traditional mindset in several countries from the Global South, they nevertheless have little to say as to whether holding superstitious beliefs (e.g., believing in fortune tellers, horoscopes, or lucky charms) has certain political implications for countries in the Global North. In this article, we explore whether the traditional mindset has political consequences even in an industrially advanced Germany. We present an analysis of data from the German General Social Survey (GESIS 2019) showing that superstitious voters have less trust in the political system, are more inclined to think that Hitler would be remembered as a good stateman if he had not perpetrated the Holocaust, that the Nazi regime also had a good side, and that the Jews are different and, in any case, have too much influence. Hence, dissemination of superstitious beliefs could make right-wing populists more electorally appealing and successful than they once were. We believe our findings to be of some importance as they show that if the proliferation of superstitious beliefs continues unchecked, they may transform our political systems in ways that policy makers and democratic forces should strive to avoid.

Universal threads: Shared sociopolitical roots and consequences of extrasensory perception and pseudoscientific beliefs

“…As we have shown, previous research supports the predictive value of thinking dispositions (e.g. Branković, 2019;Knežević et al, 2024;Svedeholm & Lindeman, 2012;Yelbuz et al, 2023) and sociopolitical factors for irrational beliefs (Bordignon, 2023;Fasce et al, 2020;Imhoff et al, 2022;Pelizzo & Kuzenbayev, 2023).…”

“…Going beyond self-placement on political orientation, research suggests that irrational beliefs are tied to more specific sociopolitical beliefs, such as authoritarianism. Authoritarianism has been found to predict the endorsement of pseudoscientific beliefs (Fasce et al, 2020), while right-wing populist voters were more likely to endorse superstition (Pelizzo & Kuzenbayev, 2023). Similarly, a link has been shown between populism on the one hand, and conspiracy mentality, bullshit receptivity, and supernatural beliefs on the other (van Proijen et al, 2022).…”

“…Also, conservative worldviews entail a proclivity to social conformism (Fasce et al, 2020) and seeking closure at the expense of factual validity (Jost et al, 2013). In addition, conservative worldviews often appeal to the ancient past, proposing an anti-modern and anti-scientific worldview (Pelizzo & Kuzenbayev, 2023). In regions burdened with past ethnic conflicts, characterized by an uncritically positive and essentialist view of the ethnic ingroup, ethnocentrism could also, alongside other sociopolitical factors, be predictive of specific irrational beliefs, assuming their joint identity-protective function.…”

Introduction to the Special Issue

“…The analysis of the German data (Pelizzo and Kuzenbayev 2023a) is also consistent with Lipset's (1959) claim that democratic consolidation depends above all on the presence/absence of proper cultural conditions. But it also shows that, as the religious landscape in the industrially advanced countries of the Global North changes and new cults become more common and new/old traditional beliefs gain greater currency, the political landscape may also be transformed in a radical way.…”

“…In "Traditional Beliefs and Electoral Behavior in Indonesia," Harakan, Pelizzo, and Kuzenbayev (2023) and in "Traditional Beliefs and Electoral Behavior: Some Evidence from Togo," Pelizzo and others (2023) investigate the electoral consequences of traditional beliefs, showing that voters who hold traditional beliefs are more likely to vote for government parties. In "Traditional Practices and Support for the Strongman's Rule," Pelizzo and Kuzenbayev (2023b) show that voters with a traditional mindset prefer the rule of a strongman to democratic rule, while in Germany, according to "Beyond Religion: Superstition, Traditional Beliefs, and The Extreme Right," superstitious voters are more anti-Semitic and have more positive views of Hitler and his regime (Pelizzo and Kuzenbayev 2023a).…”