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The Emotional Underpinnings of Populism: How Anger and Fear Affect Populist Attitudes
- Source :
- Dipòsit Digital de Documents de la UAB, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
- Publication Year :
- 2017
- Publisher :
- Wiley, 2017.
-
Abstract
- Altres ajuts: Ramon y Cajal (RYC-2012-09861) Popular accounts of populist movements often point to negative emotions as a key motivating factor underlying their support. However, little systematic research has been devoted to examining differences in how distinct negative emotions affect levels of populism among voters. This paper attempts to fill this gap by focusing on the influence of the two emotions most frequently connected to populism in political commentary: fear and anger. Informed by appraisal theories of emotions, we hypothesize that populist attitudes are driven by feelings of anger, rather than fear. Using a three-wave online panel survey of Spanish citizens between 2014 and 2016, we find that anger expressed over the economic crisis is consistently associated with variations in support for populism both between individuals and over time, whereas no significant effects emerge for expressions of fear. We discuss the implications of these findings for understanding the nature of populist support.
- Subjects :
- Panel survey
Political psychology
business.industry
media_common.quotation_subject
05 social sciences
050109 social psychology
Anger
Public opinion
Affect (psychology)
0506 political science
Populism
Politics
Feeling
Spain
Political Science and International Relations
050602 political science & public administration
0501 psychology and cognitive sciences
Sociology
business
Social psychology
Populist attitudes
media_common
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 14247755
- Volume :
- 23
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Swiss Political Science Review
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....ae67cdcf5ddc46863c5f6f0abfe1466c