Left-wing identity politics and authoritarian attitudes: a correlational study of social media users

Abstract

ABSTRACT Identity politics based on an interpretation of society as a system of power and privilege are increasingly influential within left-wing parties and movements. We used two cross-sectional samples composed of Spanish-speaking social media users (total N = 1684) to assess the relationship between psychological variables typically associated with left-wing identity politics and authoritarian attitudes. In Study 1, we tested perceived grievance, identity-based ideology, and prejudice towards groups perceived as privileged, which positively predicted left-wing authoritarianism, with large effect sizes. In Study 2, we replicated our results on identity-based ideology and observed that social justice attitudes also positively predicted left-wing authoritarianism. These results aid understanding of political attitudes among social media users and help to close the gap in relation to the wider literature on right-wing authoritarianism.