The Effects of Contextual and Psychological Variables on Extreme Right-Wing Sentiments

Abstract

This article assesses how socioeconomic and psychological factors explain right-wing extremist (RWE) sentiments. A correlation was expected between two psychological factors: authoritarianism and supernaturalist beliefs, and RWE, and a weaker correlation between socioeconomic variables and RWE, compared to psychological variables. Questionnaires were given to 1,247 Israeli university students. Results confirmed the expectation that psychological variables were better predictors of RWE. These conclusions contradict attributing RWE to socioeconomic factors.Recently, Western politics have shown an increase in the power of right-wing extremist parties. Political intolerance, xenophobia and ultranationalism are defined as normative pathological characteristics (Minkenberg, 2000). The recent unprecedented rise in right-wing power induced many scholars to examine the socio-cultural roots of these phenomena. There is a lack of psychological explanations, pivotal in explaining the rise of extreme right sentiments, in contemporary research.Studies using psychological factors for predicting right-wing extremist sentiments (RWE) focused mainly on the authoritarian personality (AP) (Altemeyer, 1996). We, however, following Adorno, Frenkel-Brunswick, Levinson, and Sanford (1950), refer also to a rather neglected cluster -supernaturalist beliefs (SB) -or, as Adorno et al. designated it -the mystic personality, revealing a remarkable increase in supernaturalism in Western societies. Palmistry, astrology, psychic readings, amulets and talismans are no longer features of marginality. Rather, they are mainstream popular culture among Western societies (Truzzi, SOCIAL

The rise and endurance of radical right movements

“…When analyzing the causes of the emergence and success of radical right movements' mobilization, one is confronted with three main analytical approaches. Some emphasize -at an individual (micro) level -the role of extremists' psychological characteristics and activists' values and motivations (Canetti and Pedahzur, 2002;Henry et al, 2005). Others focus instead on the meso organizational factors (i.e.…”

Propiedades métricas de la Escala Salvadoreña de Autoritarismo de Derechas (RWA)

“…Podría decirse que la medición del RWA ha seguido un proceso de estabilización, depuración y adaptación en las últimas cuatro décadas (Altemeyer, 1981(Altemeyer, , 1996(Altemeyer, , 1998(Altemeyer, , 2006. Mientras que con el pasar del tiempo la escala de medición del constructo se posiciona ante la comunidad académica como una medida válida de actitudes autoritarias y experimenta un proceso de variación, reformulación y acortamiento de ítems (Altemeyer, 2006), paralelamente proliferan esfuerzos de administración, innovación y de traducción de la escala en contextos diferentes al norteamericano angloparlante (Canetti & Pedahzur, 2002;Giampaglia & Roccato, 2002;Zakrisson, 2005), lo que incluye también países de habla hispana (Etchezahar, 2012;Moya & Morales-Marente, 2005;Seoane & Garzón, 1992).…”

“A Liberal Is Someone Who Has Not Been Mugged”: Criminal Victimization and Political Beliefs

“…Although political scientists have identified numerous factors that predict political conservatism (Alwin & Krosnick, 1991;Canetti & Pedahzur, 2002), only intermittent attention has been paid to the empirical relationship between experiences with crime and conservatism (for a review of research, see Kinder, 1998). This omission occurs despite the roles that "law and order" and "getting tough with criminals" have played in political campaigns.…”