White America, threat to the status quo, and affiliation with the alt-right: a qualitative approach

Scott, Deena A. Isom; Mikell, Toniqua; Boehme, Hunter M.

doi:10.1080/02732173.2021.1885531

Cited by 13 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 69 publications

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“…Such works, along with others [16][17][18][19][20][21][22], align with the emerging literature attempting to understand the recent conservative movement uprising, particularly among White Americans, and the election of Donald Trump. For instance, scholars find that Donald Trump's campaign promise to 'Make American Great Again' and return America to the Christian, conservative values it (supposedly) once held significantly aided in his election and particularly appealed to White America [23,24].…”

Section: Longing For "Greater" Dayssupporting

confidence: 54%

“…Yet, our analysis revealed the opposite-trust in conservative media mitigated the associations between social issues and status threat as well as Alt-Right affiliation. Recent qualitative findings [18] support the influence and polarization reinforced by conservative media. We purport our findings reflect the presence of a confounding factor-the larger online media environment that the Alt-Right originated in and spreads through.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 86%

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Status Threat, Social Concerns, and Conservative Media: A Look at White America and the Alt-Right

et al. 2021

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Racial and ethnic division is a mainstay of the American social structure, and today these strains are exacerbated by political binaries. Moreover, the media has become increasingly polarized whereby certain media outlets intensify perceived differences between racial and ethnic groups, political alignments, and religious affiliations. Using data from a recent psychological study of the Alt-Right, we assess the associations between perceptions of social issues, feelings of status threat, trust in conservative media, and affiliation with the Alt-Right among White Americans. We find concern over more conservative social issues along with trust in conservative media explain a large portion of the variation in feelings of status threat among White Americans. Furthermore, more conservative social issues plus feeling of status threat significantly increase the odds of Alt-Right affiliation. Most surprisingly, however, trust in conservative media mitigated, instead of amplified, these associations. Implications and calls for future research are discussed.

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Section: Longing For "Greater" Dayssupporting

confidence: 54%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 86%

Status Threat, Social Concerns, and Conservative Media: A Look at White America and the Alt-Right

et al. 2021

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“…Berbrier (2000), for example, finds this sense of victimhood to be rampant among white supremacists, and others have identified this ideology among those in the Alt-Right (e.g. Boehme and Isom Scott, 2020; Hammon, 2013; Isom et al, 2021). Berbrier (2000) posits five themes of white victimhood: “(1) that Whites are victims of discrimination, (2) that their rights are being abrogated, (3) that they are stigmatized if they express “pride,” (4) that they are being psychologically affected through the loss of self-esteem, and (5) that the end product of all of this is the elimination of "the white race” (p. 176).…”

Section: Perceived Status Threat and Victim Ideologymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These far-right groups are heterogeneous and evolve for many reasons that include inter-group conflict, anger of feeling left behind by the government, and support for anti-progressive movements (e.g. LBGTQ+ rights, pro-choice movements, gun control legislation), among others (Bliuc et al, 2019; Isom et al, 2021; Wuthnow, 2018). A recent Pew Research Center poll showed that certain extreme sentiments (surrounding race and gender) are becoming commonplace by Republican respondents, and thus normalized in the United States (Pew Research Center, 2020).…”

Section: The Mainstreaming Of Far-right Ideologymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Given far-right groups’ sense of victimhood and disdain for political correctness and social justice (Berbrier, 2000; Southern Poverty Law Center, nd), it is no wonder they quickly rallied around Trump’s presidential campaign. Trump’s campaign slogan, “Make America Great Again,” quickly dubbed “Make America White Again” (Barnett, 2018), spoke to the nostalgia touted by the far-right, signaling his own belief that the country should be restored to its former white supremacist, patriarchal condition (Boehme and Isom Scott, 2020; Isom et al, 2021). Trump’s overt racist remarks reinforced the far-right’s own notions of white supremacy, and his willingness to reject the politically neutral approach that most politicians observe by emitting hate speech signaled his own opposition to “political correctness” (Barkun, 2017).…”

Section: The Era Of Trump and Black Lives Mattermentioning

confidence: 99%

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The White Right: A Gendered Look at the Links Between “Victim” Ideology and Anti-Black Lives Matter Sentiments in the Era of Trump

et al. 2021

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Employing a racialized gendered lens, we explore the perceptions of status threat and victimhood among a sample of White Americans following the 2016 presidential election. Specifically, we draw upon such theoretical and empirical work to frame our analyses of the associations between perceptions of a white “victim” ideology and anti-Black Lives Matter (BLM) sentiments and how such associations may be conditioned by support for Trump and holding patriarchal gender normative beliefs. We propose that the BLM movement may be perceived as a “threat” to many White Americans. Furthermore, we believe Whites’ anti-BLM sentiments will be enhanced by support for Trump, given his racist, misogynistic, xenophobic, and oppressive tendencies. Moreover, we believe that these associations will differ based on gender and beliefs in patriarchal gender norms, as White men and women are likely to feel status threat in varied ways. Mix support for our propositions and complex gendered differences are revealed. Implications are discussed.

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How opposing ideological groups use online interactions to justify and mobilise collective action

Brown

Lowery

Smith

2022

Euro J Social Psych

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The purpose of this pre-registered study was to investigate how different ideological groups justified and mobilised collective action online. We collected 6878 posts from the social media accounts of pro-Black Lives Matter (n = 13) and anti-Black Lives Matter (n = 9) groups who promoted collective action in the month after George Floyd's murder and the Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests and counter-protests. We used content analysis and natural language processing (NLP) to analyse the content and psychological function of the posts. We found that both groups perceived their action as 'system-challenging' , with pro-BLM accounts focused more on outgroup actions to mobilise collective action, and anti-BLM accounts focused more on ingroup identity. The reverse pattern occurred when the accounts were attempting to justify action. The implications are that groups' ideology and socio-structural position should be accounted for when understanding differences in how and why groups mobilise through online interactions.

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White America, threat to the status quo, and affiliation with the alt-right: a qualitative approach

Cited by 13 publications

References 69 publications

Status Threat, Social Concerns, and Conservative Media: A Look at White America and the Alt-Right

Status Threat, Social Concerns, and Conservative Media: A Look at White America and the Alt-Right

The White Right: A Gendered Look at the Links Between “Victim” Ideology and Anti-Black Lives Matter Sentiments in the Era of Trump

How opposing ideological groups use online interactions to justify and mobilise collective action

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