The Politics of Vaccine Hesitancy: An Ideological Dual-Process Approach

Abstract

Ideological convictions are known to shape attitudes and behavior in various life domains. Based on existing psychological analyses of political ideology, we use an ideological dual-process approach to explain people’s vaccine hesitancy, which distinguishes between authoritarian (right-wing authoritarianism [RWA]) and hierarchical (social dominance orientation [SDO]) facets of conservatism as potential antecedents of vaccination attitudes. In a large international study performed in Germany ( N = 1,210), Poland ( N = 1,209), and the United Kingdom ( N = 1,222), we tested the roles of SDO and RWA in predicting vaccination hesitancy, as well as cross-cultural universality of the pattern of relationships between political ideologies and attitudes toward vaccines. In all three countries, high SDO was associated with higher vaccine hesitancy, whereas high RWA was associated with lower vaccine hesitancy. These findings contribute to our understanding of the distinctive roles that these two facets of right-wing ideology might play in the domain of public health.

Politics of COVID-19 vaccine mandates: Left/right-wing authoritarianism, social dominance orientation, and libertarianism

“…Then, hierarchical regression models investigated whether the four ideologies predicted support for vaccine mandates and the punishment of unvaccinated individuals, with or without the inclusion of COVID-19 concern and vaccine acceptance. In prior research, these two factors are associated with ideological variables such as SDO, RWA, and libertarianism ( Bilewicz & Soral, 2021 ; Choma et al, 2021 ; Clarke et al, 2021 ; Murphy et al, 2021 ; Peng, 2022 ) as well as support for vaccine mandates ( Gagneux-Brunon et al, 2021 ). An inspection of the predicted probability plots and the residuals vs. predictor plots suggested that the assumptions for regression analyses were not violated.…”

“…SDO frequently predicts less concern about COVID, less adherence to public health guidelines, and less support for government measures ( Choma et al, 2021 ; Clarke, Klas, & Dyos, 2021 ; Fischer et al, 2020 ; Peng, 2022 ). Recent research also finds that SDO predicts more hesitancy against COVID-19 vaccines ( Bilewicz & Soral, 2021 ; Murphy et al, 2021 ). Therefore, SDO should predict higher opposition to mandatory and punitive vaccine policies, as SDO is often associated with a lower perceived risk of COVID-19 and higher vaccine hesitancy.…”

“…This study advances prior research by investigating how four ideological factors–left-wing authoritarianism (LWA), right-wing authoritarianism (RWA), social dominance orientation (SDO), and libertarianism–shape attitudes toward COVID-19 vaccines and vaccine policies. Previous research has shown that ideological factors such as SDO and RWA predict COVID-19 risk perceptions, adherence to public health recommendations, and vaccine hesitancy ( Bilewicz & Soral, 2021 ; Choma, Hodson, Sumantry, Hanoch, & Gummerum, 2021 ; Fischer, Chaudhuri, & Atkinson, 2020 ). This research extends this line of scholarship and shows that ideologies also underscore the support for vaccine mandates and the punishment of unvaccinated individuals, which are heavily debated topics regarding the pandemic.…”

“…RWA reflects obedience to established authorities, endorsement of traditional values and morality, and support for harsh, punitive social control ( Duckitt et al, 2010 ). RWA and SDO are two ideological constructs in the dual process model of ideology and are frequently examined together to explain attitudes related to the pandemic ( Bilewicz & Soral, 2021 ; Fischer et al, 2020 ). On one hand, RWA might lead to more cautious responses to COVID-19 as RWA is associated with a worldview that sees the world as threatening and dangerous and deference to institutional authorities ( Duckitt et al, 2010 ).…”

“…The mixed findings also extend to attitudes toward COVID-19 vaccination. Across different contexts, RWA has been shown to have positive ( Bilewicz & Soral, 2021 ), negative ( Oleksy et al, 2022 ), or mixed ( Murphy et al, 2021 ) relationships with COVID-19 vaccine acceptance. Some research has also shown that RWA predicts skepticism toward vaccination in general ( Kempthorne & Terrizzi, 2021 ).…”