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Social scientists from HU are investigating the causes of the link between growing income and wealth disparities and increasing support for populist parties in Europe.
In recent decades, income and wealth disparities have widened significantly in many European countries. At the same time, support for populist parties has grown. Previous studies have already pointed out that rising inequality may be contributing to the growth of populist movements. But how can this correlation be explained? Why are more and more people turning to populist parties?
A new study by Prof. Dr. Heike Klüver and Prof. Dr. Johannes Giesecke from the Department of Social Sciences (Institut für Sozialwissenschaften, ISW) at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (HU) and their former colleague Prof. Dr. Lukas F. Stoetzer (now at Universität Witten/Herdecke) shows that it is not only social inequality, as measured by objective figures on the distribution of income and wealth, that plays a role here. Rather, what is crucial is how people process such information, what conclusions they draw from it and what feelings it evokes. ‘When people have the impression that wealth is concentrated in the hands of a few, they are more likely to develop populist attitudes,’ says Heike Klüver, chair of Comparative Political Behavior at ISW. ‘This perception shapes political attitudes regardless of what the objective distribution actually looks like.’
Populist parties exploit perceived inequality
In contrast to previous studies showing that rising inequality feeds populist movements, the new study examines why and how this correlation arises. The social scientists argue that it is not so much economic structures themselves that fuel populism, but rather the perception that society is organised unfairly and that political elites primarily represent the interests of the wealthy – a perception that populist parties pick up on and exploit.
Surveys covering 40,000 individuals in 20 countries on social inequality and its perception
In order to investigate the link between inequality and support for populist parties, researchers analysed data from the International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) conducted by GESIS – Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences and additionally conducted a behavioural experiment. The analysis of ISSP surveys of almost 40,000 people in 20 European countries on social inequality and its perception shows that people who perceive their society as particularly unequal are 2.7 percentage points more likely to support a populist party than those who perceive their society as more equal. Such a difference is quite substantial in election research, as even a few percentage points can determine the success or failure of political parties. This correlation is particularly evident in larger right-wing populist parties such as the Danish People's Party (DF) or the Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ), but it also applies to other populist parties.
Behavioural experiment supports central argument
To test the causality of this finding on the correlation between perceptions of inequality and populist attitudes, the social researchers conducted an experiment involving approximately 3,000 randomly selected individuals in Germany, Denmark and Italy. A group of test persons were given information about the actual distribution of wealth in their respective countries before answering questions about their perception of inequality in society. A control group was not given any information in advance. The experiment showed that being confronted with information about actually existing inequality increased the test persons' perception of social inequality – and reinforced populist attitudes. However, this did not immediately lead to a higher intention to vote for populist parties.
‘The experiment clearly supports our central argument: the perception of inequality can be a cause for populist attitudes,’ says Heike Klüver. "At the same time, however, it also shows that a short-term change in attitudes does not immediately lead to a higher intention to vote for populist parties. This suggests that other factors play a role – such as political party's programs, party campaigns, or other political context factors."
Further information
Academic article in the European Journal of Political Research: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/european-journal-of-political-research/a...
Prof. Dr. Heike Klüver
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences of Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
Department of Social Sciences
Comparative Political Behaviour
Email: heike.kluever@hu-berlin.de
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