Collective disadvantage in the context of socioeconomic crisis in Greece: The role of system‐directed anger, politicians‐directed anger and hope in normative and non‐normative collective action participation

Abstract

AbstractGroup‐based anger might take different forms depending on the target that is directed at. In this research, conducted in Greece (N = 470), we distinguished between two types of group‐based anger in the context of socioeconomic crisis: Anger directed towards the international system and anger directed towards the local politicians. We showed that politicians‐directed anger is better predicted by the mere perception of collective disadvantage, whereas system‐directed anger by the perceived illegitimacy of disadvantage. We then examined the mediating role of politicians‐directed and system‐directed anger in the relationship between perceived (illegitimate) disadvantage and collective action and the moderating role of hope in these processes. Results revealed that perceived illegitimacy of disadvantage was positively associated to normative and non‐normative collective action through system‐directed anger. Collective disadvantage was negatively linked to normative collective action via politicians‐directed anger but only among participants with low levels of hope. Moreover, collective disadvantage was directly and positively related to both types of collective action but only when hope was high. We discuss the differential implications of the two types of group‐based anger and the role of hope in political participation. Please refer to the Supplementary Material section to find this article's Community and Social Impact Statement.