“The New State That We Are Building”: Authoritarianism and System-Justification in an Illiberal Democracy

Abstract

The authoritarian personality is characterized by unquestionining obedience and respect to authority. System justification theory (SJT) argues that people are motivated to defend, bolster, and justify aspects of existing social, economic, and political systems. Commitment to the status quo is also a key characteristic of the authoritarian personality. It can be argued that the social context matters for how an underlying latent authoritarian character is expressed. This means that authoritarian regimes could be expected to lead to increased authoritarianism and stronger system-justification. We investigated this hypothesis in two representative samples of Hungarians, collected before (2010) and after (2018) 8 years of Fidesz’ rule (N = 1,000 in both samples). Moreover, the strong version of SJT argues that members of disadvantaged groups are likely to experience the most cognitive dissonance and that the need to reduce this dissonance makes them the most supportive of the status quo. This argument dovetails nicely with claims made by the political opposition to Fidesz, according to which Fidesz is especially popular among low-status members of society. We found that measures assessing authoritarian tendencies did not change between 2010 and 2018. However, more specific beliefs and attitudes did change, and these effects were especially pronounced among Fidesz supporters. Their belief in a just world and a just system has grown stronger, while their attitudes toward migrants had hardened. Low status was associated with lower levels of system-justifying ideologies. However, low status Fidesz voters justified the system more than high status opposition voters in 2018, lending some support for the strong version of SJT. Our results suggest that beliefs and attitudes of Hungarians have changed between 2010 and 2018, and that political leadership played a crucial role in this.

Brexit and Trump: Which Theory of Social Stasis and Social Change Copes Best With the New Populism?

“…In light of the new political populism across Europe, North America and elsewhere, we examined whether a system justification perspective or a social identity model of system attitudes best explains the motivations of people who wanted to retain the existing order or to change it. Findings from our analyses suggest that the motivations for both camps of the political divide are best characterized as rooted in personal and collective interests rather than resulting from a separate system justification motivation (see also in this issue works by Caricati et al, 2021;Carvalho et al, 2021;Degner et al, 2021;Lönnqvist et al, 2021).…”

The Influence of the Disadvantaged Mindset on System-Justifying Beliefs

“…Furthermore, it refers to the psychological tendency of individuals who usually feel disadvantaged in society, including feeling that their life is more difficult (Kuper and Kuper, 2001). Some research studies have found that system justification was positively associated with socioeconomic status (e.g., Lönnqvist et al, 2021). Compared to individuals with higher incomes, disadvantaged individuals feel that the system cannot meet their needs and that they are unable to change it.…”