Book contents
- The Cambridge Handbook of Political Psychology
- The Cambridge Handbook of Political Psychology
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Contributors
- Part I Foundations of Political Psychology
- Part II The Politics of Intergroup Attitudes
- Part III Contemporary Challenges to Democracy
- 23 The Political Psychology of Inequality
- 24 How Social Class Influences Political Choices
- 25 Fear and Loathing in American Politics
- 26 Political Extremism
- 27 The Politics of Hate
- 28 Populism
- 29 A Cultural Theory of Autocracy-vs-Democracy
- 30 Psychological Theories Meet the Challenge of Persuading and Mobilising Voters
- 31 Collective Action for Social Change
- 32 Opinion Formation and Polarisation in the News Feed Era
- 33 Conspiracy Theory Belief and Conspiratorial Thinking
- 34 Political Psychology and the Climate Crisis
- 35 The Political Psychology of Cyberterrorism
- 36 Reconciliation in the Aftermath of Collective Violence
- Part IV Diversifying Perspectives in Political Psychology
- Index
- References
28 - Populism
from Part III - Contemporary Challenges to Democracy
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 17 February 2022
Book contents
- The Cambridge Handbook of Political Psychology
- The Cambridge Handbook of Political Psychology
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Contributors
- Part I Foundations of Political Psychology
- Part II The Politics of Intergroup Attitudes
- Part III Contemporary Challenges to Democracy
- 23 The Political Psychology of Inequality
- 24 How Social Class Influences Political Choices
- 25 Fear and Loathing in American Politics
- 26 Political Extremism
- 27 The Politics of Hate
- 28 Populism
- 29 A Cultural Theory of Autocracy-vs-Democracy
- 30 Psychological Theories Meet the Challenge of Persuading and Mobilising Voters
- 31 Collective Action for Social Change
- 32 Opinion Formation and Polarisation in the News Feed Era
- 33 Conspiracy Theory Belief and Conspiratorial Thinking
- 34 Political Psychology and the Climate Crisis
- 35 The Political Psychology of Cyberterrorism
- 36 Reconciliation in the Aftermath of Collective Violence
- Part IV Diversifying Perspectives in Political Psychology
- Index
- References
Summary
This chapter reviews the literature that seeks to identify the people who are enamoured with populism. It focuses on two related measures of support for populism at the individual level: populist attitudes and the vote for populist parties. We first detail the problems with definitions of populism and the resulting measures of populist attitudes with a special focus on anti-elitism, popular sovereignty, and a Manichean world view. The second section shifts to the populist vote and discusses the lack of a coherent set of socio-demographic predictors and examines the psychological determinants of populist party support with an emphasis on emotions and personality traits.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Cambridge Handbook of Political Psychology , pp. 442 - 457Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2022
References
Ackermann, K., Zampieri, E., & Freitag, M. (2018). Personality and voting for a right-wing populist party: Evidence from Switzerland. Swiss Political Science Review, 24(4), 545–565.Google Scholar
Aichholzer, J., & Zandonella, M. (2016). Psychological bases of support for radical right parties. Personality and Individual Differences, 96, 185–190.Google Scholar
Akkerman, A., Mudde, C., & Zaslove, A. (2014). How populist are the people? Measuring populist attitudes in voters. Comparative Political Studies, 47(9), 1324–1353.Google Scholar
Akkerman, A., Zaslove, A., & Spruyt, B. (2017). ‘We the people’ or ‘We the peoples’? A comparison of support for the populist radical right and populist radical left in the Netherlands. Swiss Political Science Review, 23(4), 377–403.Google Scholar
Bakker, B. N., Rooduijn, M., & Schumacher, G. (2016). The psychological roots of populist voting: Evidence from the United States, the Netherlands and Germany. European Journal of Political Research, 55(2), 302–420.Google Scholar
Bakker, B. N., Schumacher, G., & Rooduijn, M. (2020). The populist appeal: Personality and anti-establishment communication. The Journal of Politics, 83(2). https://doi.org/10.1086/710014Google Scholar
Berman, S. (2017, 20 December). Populism is a problem: Elitist technocrats aren’t the solution. Foreign Policy. https://foreignpolicy.com/2017/12/20/populism-is-a-problem-elitist-technocrats-arent-the-solution/Google Scholar
Bødker, H., & Anderson, C. (2019). Populist time: Mediating immediacy and delay in liberal democracy. International Journal of Communication, 13, 5948–5966.Google Scholar
Caprara, G. V., & Zimbardo, P. G. (2004). Personalizing politics: A congruency model of political preference. American Psychologist, 59(7), 581–594.Google Scholar
Castanho Silva, B., Andreadis, I., Anduiza, E., et al. (2018). Public opinion surveys: A new scale. In Hawkins, K., Carlin, R., Littvay, L., & Kaltwasser, C. R. (Eds.), The ideational approach to populism: Theory, method & analysis (pp. 150–178). Routledge.Google Scholar
Castanho Silva, B., Jungkunz, S., Helbling, M., & Littvay, L. (2020). An empirical investigation of seven populist attitudes scales. Political Research Quarterly, 73(2), 409–424.Google Scholar
Duckitt, J. (1989). Authoritarianism and group identification: A new view of an old construct. Political Psychology, 10(1), 63–84.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fatke, M. (2019). The personality of populists: How the Big Five traits relate to populist attitudes. Personality and Individual Differences, 139, 138–151.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Geurkink, B., Zaslove, A., Sluiter, R., & Jacobs, K. (2020). Populist attitudes, political trust, and external political efficacy: Old wine in new bottles? Political Studies, 68(1), 247–267.Google Scholar
Hauwaert, S., Acevedo, F., & Schimpf, C. (2020). The measurement of populist attitudes: Testing cross-national scales using item response theory. Political Studies, 40(1), 3–21.Google Scholar
Hawkins, K. A. (2009). Is Chavez populist? Measuring populist discourse in comparative perspective. Comparative Political Studies, 42(8), 1040–1067.Google Scholar
Hawkins, K. A., Carlin, R. E., Littvay, L., & Rovira Kaltwasser, C. (Eds.). (2019). The ideational approach to populism: Concept, theory and analysis. Routledge.Google Scholar
Hawkins, K. A., & Kaltwasser, C. R. (2017). The ideational approach to populism. Latin American Research Review, 52(4), 513–528.Google Scholar
Huber, R., & Schimpf, C. (2017). On the distinct effects of left-wing and right-wing populism on democratic quality. Politics and Governance, 5(4), 146–165.Google Scholar
Jansen, R. S. (2011). Populist mobilization: A new theoretical approach to populism. Sociological Theory, 29(2), 75–96.Google Scholar
Jost, J. T. (2019). Anger and authoritarianism mediate the effects of fear on support for the far right: What Vasilopoulos et al. (2019) really found. Political Psychology, 40(4), 705–711.Google Scholar
Jost, J. T., & Andrews, R. (2011). System justification theory. In Christie, D. J. (Ed.), The encyclopedia of peace psychology (Vol. 2, pp. 1092–1096). Wiley Blackwell.Google Scholar
Jost, J. T., Federico, C. M., & Napier, J. L. (2009). Political ideology: Its structure, functions, and elective affinities. Annual Review of Psychology, 60, 307–337.Google Scholar
Kappe, R. (2015). The political psychology of UKIP: Personality factors, authoritarianism and support for right-wing populist parties in Britain. Paper presented at the annual conference of the Elections, Public Opinion and Parties (EPOP) specialist group, Cardiff University, 11–13 September 2015.Google Scholar
Kuppens, P., Van Mechelen, I., Smits, D. J. M., De Boeck, P., & Ceulemans, E. (2007). Individual differences in patterns of appraisal and anger experience. Cognition and Emotion, 21(4), 689–713.Google Scholar
Laclau, E., & Mouffe, C. (1985). Hegemony and socialist strategy: Towards a radical democratic politics (2nd ed.). Verso.Google Scholar
Magni, G. (2017). It’s the emotions, stupid! Anger about the economic crisis, low political efficacy, and support for populist parties. Electoral Studies, 50, 91–102.Google Scholar
Mansbridge, J., & Macedo, S. (2019). Populism and democratic theory. Annual Review of Law and Social Science, 15, 59–77.Google Scholar
Marcus, G. E., Russell Neuman, W., & MacKuen, M. (2000). Affective intelligence and political judgment. The University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Marcus, G. E., Valentino, N. A., Vasilopoulos, P., & Foucault, M. (2019). Applying the theory of affective intelligence to support for authoritarian policies and parties. Political Psychology, 40(1), 109–139.Google Scholar
Meyer, B. (2021). Populists in power: Perils and prospects. Institute for Global Change. https://institute.global/policy/populists-power-perils-and-prospects-2021Google Scholar
Mohrenberg, S., Huber, R. A., & Freyburg, T. (2019). Love at first sight? Populist attitudes and support for direct democracy. Party Politics, 27(3), 528–539.Google Scholar
Mondak, J. J. (2010). Personality and the foundations of political behavior. Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mudde, C. (2017). Populism: An ideational approach. In Rovira Kaltwasser, C., Taggart, P., Ochoa Espejo, P., & Ostiguy, P. (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of populism (pp. 27–47). Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Mudde, C., & Rovira Kaltwasser, C. (Eds.). (2012). Populism in Europe and the Americas: Threat and corrective to democracy. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Norris, P. (2019). Varieties of populist parties. Philosophy & Social Criticism, 45(9–10), 981–1012.Google Scholar
Norris, P., & Inglehart, R. (2019). Cultural backlash: Trump, Brexit, and authoritarian populism. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Pappas, T. S. (2016). Modern populism: Research advances, conceptual and methodological pitfalls, and the minimal definition. In Oxford research encyclopedia of politics. https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190228637.013.17Google Scholar
Pauwels, T. (2014). Populism in Western Europe: Comparing Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands. Routledge.Google Scholar
Rico, G., Guinjoan, M., & Anduiza, E. (2017). The emotional underpinnings of populism: How anger and fear affect populist attitudes. Swiss Political Science Review, 23(4), 444–461.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rooduijn, M. (2018). What unites the voter bases of populist parties? Comparing the electorates of 15 populist parties. European Political Science Review, 10(3), 351–368.Google Scholar
Rovira Kaltwasser, C., Taggart, P., Ochoa Espejo, P., & Ostiguy, P. (Eds.). (2017). The Oxford handbook of populism. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Santana, A., & Rama, J. (2018). Electoral support for left wing populist parties in Europe: Addressing the globalization cleavage. European Politics and Society, 19(5), 558–576.Google Scholar
Schoen, H., & Schumann, S. (2007). Personality traits, partisan attitudes, and voting behavior: Evidence from Germany. Political Psychology, 28(4), 471–498.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schulz, A., Müller, P., Schemer, C., Wirz, D. S., Wettstein, M., & Wirth, W. (2018). Measuring populist attitudes on three dimensions. International Journal of Public Opinion Research, 30(2), 316–326.Google Scholar
Sidanius, J., Levin, S., Federico, C. M., & Pratto, F. (2001). Legitimizing ideologies: The social dominance approach. In Jost, J. T. & Major, B. (Eds.), The psychology of legitimacy: Emerging perspectives on ideology, justice, and intergroup relations (pp. 307–331). Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Smith, C. A., & Kirby, L. D. (2001). Affect and cognitive appraisal processes. In Forgas, J. P. (Ed.), Handbook of affect and social cognition. (pp. 75–92). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
Spierings, N., & Zaslove, A. (2015). Gendering the vote for populist radical-right parties. Patterns of Prejudice, 49(1–2), 135–162.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Urbinati, N. (2019). Me the people: How populism transforms democracy. Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Van Hauwaert, S., & van Kessel, S. (2017). Beyond protest and discontent: A cross‐national analysis of the effect of populist attitudes and issue positions on populist party support. European Journal of Political Research, 57(1), 68–92.Google Scholar
Vasilopoulos, P., & Jost, J. T. (2020). Psychological similarities and dissimilarities between left-wing and right-wing populists: Evidence from a nationally representative survey in France. Journal of Research in Personality, 88, 1–11.Google Scholar
Vasilopoulos, P., Marcus, G. E., Valentino, N. A., & Foucault, M. (2019a). Fear, anger, and voting for the far right: Evidence from the November 13, 2015 Paris terror attacks. Political Psychology, 40(4), 679–705.Google Scholar
Vasilopoulos, P., Marcus, G. E., Valentino, N. A., & Foucault, M. (2019b). Anger mediates the effects of fear on support for the far right: A rejoinder. Political Psychology, 40(4), 713–717.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weyland, K. (2001). Clarifying a contested concept: Populism in the study of Latin American politics. Comparative Politics, 34(1), 1–22.Google Scholar
Wirth, W., Esser, F., Wettstein, M., et al. (2016). The appeal of populist ideas, strategies, and styles: A theoretical model and research design for analyzing populist political communication. NCCR Democracy Working Paper series 88, University of Zürich. https://doi.org/10.5167/uzh-127461CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wuttke, A., Schimpf, C., & Schoen, H. (2020). When the whole is greater than the sum of its parts: On the conceptualization and measurement of populist attitudes and other multidimensional constructs. American Political Science Review, 114(2), 356–374.Google Scholar
Zandonella, M., & Zeglovits, E. (2012). Young men and their vote for the radical right in Austria: Can personality traits, right-wing authoritarianism and social dominance orientation contribute to the explanation of radical right voting? Politics, Culture and Socialization, 3(1–2), 63–82.Google Scholar
Zulianello, M. (2019). Anti-system parties: From parliamentary breakthrough to government. Routledge.Google Scholar
- 1
- Cited by