Clarifying the Ideological Asymmetry in Public Attitudes Toward Political Protest

Abstract

Political protests cannot succeed without public support. Extant studies point to weaker average support among ideological conservatives, but researchers have yet to consider the extent to which such apparent ideological asymmetry is (a) an artifact of the particular protest cases that researchers have tended to investigate, and/or (b) conditioned by the precise meaning of “ideological conservatism.” In this investigation, we address these gaps. Specifically, we analyze public perceptions of protest legitimacy after exposing survey respondents to one of a series of experimental treatments that randomize the specific ideological and issue contents of the particular protests under consideration. In iterative models, we observe how political ideology, social dominance orientation and authoritarianism condition the effects associated with these experimental treatments. The data suggest that that the notorious ideological asymmetry that is often associated with support for protests is authentic, but it is also conditioned in important ways by these other factors.

In Pursuit of Racial Equality: Identifying the Determinants of Support for the Black Lives Matter Movement with a Systematic Review and Multiple Meta-Analyses

“…“(R)” indicates that, for ease of use, in S7 the original measure of negative beliefs about equal opportunity was reversed to reflect perceptions of social inequality. S1: Arora and Stout 2019; S2: Barker, Nalder, and Newham 2021; S3: Bonilla and Tillery 2020; S4: Cole 2020; S5: Corral 2020; S6: Drakulich et al 2020; S7: Holt 2018; S8: Holt and Sweitzer 2018; S9: Hordge-Freeman and Loblack 2020; S10: Ilchi and Frank 2020; S11: Lake, Alston, and Kahn 2018; S12: Meleady and Vermue 2019; S13: Merseth 2018; S14: Riley and Peterson 2020; S15: Seaton et al 2020; S16: Selvanathan, Lickel, and Jetten 2020; S17: Selvanathan et al 2018; S18: Towler, Crawford, and Bennett 2020; S19: Updegrove et al 2020; S20: Watson-Singleton et al 2020; S21: Wouters 2019. …”

“…Published studies have found a range of factors contributing to participation in BLM protests including intergroup contact (Meleady and Vermue 2019), empathy-mediated contact (Selvanathan et al 2018), and perceived societal inequality (Lake, Alston, and Kahn 2018). Support for BLM has been linked to identifying as Democrats (Arora and Stout 2019), endorsement of progressive-liberal politics (Merseth 2018), recognizing society lacks equal opportunities (Holt 2018), as well as to psychological tendencies such as lower levels of both authoritarianism (Barker, Nalder, and Newham 2021), and social dominance orientation (Holt and Sweitzer 2018). Additionally, Sawyer and Gampa (2018) found that during BLM protests, liberals tend to display less pro-white implicit and explicit bias than conservatives.…”

Why Do People Engage in Unlawful Political Protest? Examining the Role of Authoritarianism in Illegal Protest Behavior

“…It, therefore, includes unauthorized forms of unconventional participation; acts of civil disobedience; seizing of public or private buildings; participating in confrontations with different the police or other civil groups; and other acts of political violence against private or public property or against people (Finkel et al, 1989). What defines these types of acts is that they defy established authority (Barker et al, 2021) and violate existing laws and existing social norms (Wright & Citrin, 2011). Hence, to uncover who is more likely to be engaged in spiral processes of illegal protest and violence escalation, we suggest focusing on the political values that are specifically related to law, order, and authority, which are the principles related to the core definition of illegal protest itself.…”

“…According to this scholarship, authoritarianism praises obedience, social order, and deference to authorities perceived as legitimate (Glas & Taylor, 2018). The key concept here is legitimacy since some authoritarians defending cultural and social order might well justify disruptive or even undemocratic means (Barker et al, 2021). In an era of multi-issue activism (Andersen & Jennings, 2010), those issues framed as cultural threats to national or society unity (Wright & Citrin, 2011) might activate some authoritarian people into illegal protest networks.…”

“…More specifically, we contend that authoritarianism predicts illegal protest participation in a pattern that has not been explored so far: an inverted U-shape relation. Perceived threats to social order and established authorities can more often activate moderate or mildly authoritarian people to carry out unlawful or undemocratic acts to defend the social status quo (Barker et al, 2021;Glas & Taylor, 2018;Hetherington & Suhay, 2011; 1 Department of Political Science and Administration, University of Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain 2 Hetherington & Weiler, 2009). Individuals with extremely low levels of authoritarianism, while more likely to participate in legal protests, usually reject violence and actions that are potentially harmful to other human beings (Welzel & Deutsch, 2012) and have fewer incentives to engage in illegal protests.…”