Ideological orientations and generalized prejudice in Turkey: Adapting the dual process motivational model

Abstract

The mutually exclusive authoritarianisms (i.e., nationalist, secular, and elitist vs. religious-Islamist) in West Asia (Middle East) do not correspond to the political structures in Euro-American settings (i.e., one traditional/conservative authority). This distinction suggests that the relationships of RWA and SDO with political ideologies and generalized prejudice might differ from the predictions of the dual-process motivational model of ideology and generalized prejudice (DPM). To investigate this idea, we used the DPM’s structure with culture-sensitive hypotheses in the light of the socio-cultural work on ideologies and social dynamics in Turkey. In Study 1 (N = 259), belief in a competitive jungle positively predicted SDO, and belief in a dangerous world did not predict RWA. RWA negatively predicted left-wing and positively predicted right-wing ideology. SDO negatively predicted left-wing ideology but did not predict right-wing ideology. In Study 2 (N = 312), the relations between worldviews and attitudinal orientations replicated. Further, we developed a context-specific (i.e., Turkey) generalized prejudice measure to test the hypotheses associated with intergroup prejudice, which had a factor structure compatible with the DPM. SDO predicted prejudice toward derogated groups positively and dangerous groups negatively, and it was not relevant to the attitudes toward dissident groups in Turkey. RWA predicted prejudice toward dissident and dangerous groups positively, and derogated groups negatively. These two studies showed the importance of analyzing political ideology and intergroup prejudice from a cultural-ecological perspective by revealing the contextual characteristics constructing social relations.