"Essentially" National: The Psychology of Right-Wing Populist Attitudes

Right-wing populism, which is rising throughout the Western world, is seen as combining antagonism towards the elites of society with antagonism towards non-nationals. This combination, of anti-elitism and national-exclusivism, is precisely what makes right-wing populism a highly-divisive attitudinal syndrome. Nevertheless, it remains unclear how these two seemingly independent components of right-wing populism become intertwined, or fused, to create a comprehensive ideological structure. The current research is the first in-depth empirical attempt to identify a psychological mechanism that “fuses” them in citizens’ minds and in political discourse. This research identifies national essentialism (i.e., the belief in the immutability, entitativity, naturalness, discreteness, necessary features, and historical invariance of the national category) as a key psychological mechanism underlying the development of right-wing populism attitudes, as it causally links its two core features: antagonism towards the elites on the one hand, and nationally-exclusivist attitudes and policy preferences on the other. The guiding hypothesis of the current research is that citizens essentialize the national category to establish a positively distinct group-identity in the face of perceived disrespect by the "elites" of society. Creating vertical differentiation from the elites by defining the shared group essence of the "true people", which is meant to defend against the elites’ disrespect towards the “people of the nation”, triggers horizontal differentiation from national outsiders: strong enmity towards ethnic minorities and national out-group members and support for policies that promote narrow national interests over broader international interests. Across four studies conducted in Germany and the US, we provide cross-sectional (Studies 1a&1b) and experimental (Studies 2-3) evidence that perceived disrespect by the elites of society (and the resulting sense of threat to national belongingness) trigger antagonism towards national out-groups via perceptions of national essentialism. Our findings thus suggest that the psychological essentialization of the national category plays a role in connecting the vertical and horizontal components of right-wing populism. By offering insight into psychological mechanisms underlying the construction of right-wing populist attitudes, our findings can serve as basis for a more in depth analysis of the development of right-wing populism, and of the processes that may hinder, or potentially facilitate, citizens' support for more inclusive political structures and discourse. In addition, our conclusions regarding the attitudinal implications of (perceived) disrespect by the elites of society can serve as (modest) recommendations for political marketing: just as right-wing populists frame different socio-political circumstances as reflecting the elites’ disrespect towards nationals to promote nationally-exclusive agendas, their political opponents may also consider the potential benefits of using national framing, engaging with citizens’ need to feel respected by the elites, and engaging with their need for a sense of national belongingness, to promote nationally-inclusive agendas.