Anti-establishment Attitudes Research Articles

Singlish in focus: a personal view from Downstairs

ABSTRACT The status of Singlish in Singapore media is a site of conflict between the government and the populace. Linguistic control in Singapore, as a strategy for managing national identity and cohesion, is not new. However, understanding the regulation of Singlish in television and cinema elucidates the media’s role in Singapore’s language policy. Singlish validates the lived experience of Singaporeans in media representations, yet the government discourages its use. This paper examines the language use in the first two seasons of the adult animated series Downstairs (Han) to explore Singlish’s role in local media as a conduit of cohesion, division and transgression. Brief comparisons are made to three prominent movies released in the same period: A Land Imagined (Yeo), A Long Long Time Ago 3: Diam Diam Era and A Long Long Time Ago 4: Diam Diam Era 2 (Neo). Singlish neutralizes identity markers like ethnicity, culture and nationality but emphasizes boundaries of class, education and perceived success. Singlish, as a language of disempowerment and marginalization, symbolizes anti-establishment attitudes and solidarity against English-speaking status. Downstairs demonstrates how language differentiates class, expresses cultural values and addresses social issues, empowering its satire in interrogating the typical Singapore experience.

Anti-conspiracism as anti-populism under La République En Marche! (2020–2022)

ABSTRACT This article deals with the under-explored phenomenon of anti-conspiracism and its proximity with anti-populism. Based on the observation that populism and conspiracism share some similar characteristics, the research argues that the opposition to conspiracy theories is sometimes a means of anti-populists to frame anti-system discourses and anti-establishment attitudes as deviant, irrational and potentially criminal. Taking the case of France, especially under the first government of Emmanuel Macron, the article highlights that anti-conspiracism can be in certain cases a corollary of anti-populism.

The political, psychological, and social correlates of cryptocurrency ownership.

Cryptocurrency is a digital asset secured by cryptography that has become a popular medium of exchange and investment known for its anonymous transactions, unregulated markets, and volatile prices. Given the popular subculture of traders it has created, and its implications for financial markets and monetary policy, scholars have recently begun to examine the political, psychological, and social characteristics of cryptocurrency investors. A review of the existing literature suggests that cryptocurrency owners may possess higher-than-average levels of nonnormative psychological traits and exhibit a range of non-mainstream political identities. However, this extant literature typically employs small nonrepresentative samples of respondents and examines only a small number of independent variables in each given study. This presents the opportunity for both further testing of previous findings as well as broader exploratory analyses including more expansive descriptive investigations of cryptocurrency owners. To that end, we polled 2,001 American adults in 2022 to examine the associations between cryptocurrency ownership and individual level political, psychological, and social characteristics. Analyses revealed that 30% of our sample have owned some form of cryptocurrency and that these individuals exhibit a diversity of political allegiances and identities. We also found that crypto ownership was associated with belief in conspiracy theories, "dark" personality characteristics (e.g., the "Dark Tetrad" of narcissism, Machiavellianism, psychopathy, and sadism), and more frequent use of alternative and fringe social media platforms. When examining a more comprehensive multivariate model, the variables that most strongly predict cryptocurrency ownership are being male, relying on alternative/fringe social media as one's primary news source, argumentativeness, and an aversion to authoritarianism. These findings highlight numerous avenues for future research into the people who buy and trade cryptocurrencies and speak to broader global trends in anti-establishment attitudes and nonnormative behaviors.

Anti-establishment sentiments: realistic and symbolic threat appraisals predict populist attitudes and conspiracy mentality

ABSTRACT Previous research has found that populist attitudes and conspiracy mentality – here summarised as anti-establishment attitudes – increase when people feel threatened. Two types of intergroup threat have been distinguished, namely realistic threats (pertaining to socio-economic resources, climate, or health), and symbolic threats (pertaining to cultural values). However, there is no agreement on which types of threat and corresponding appraisals would be most important in predicting anti-establishment attitudes. We hypothesise that it is the threat itself, irrespective of its cause, that predicts anti-establishment attitudes. In the current paper, we conducted new (multilevel) regression analyses on previously collected data from four high-powered studies with multiple time points (Study 1) or collected in multiple nations (Studies 2–4). All studies included a populist attitudes scale, a conspiracy mentality scale, and different types of threat and emotion measures, reflecting both realistic and symbolic threats. Across studies, both realistic and symbolic threats positively predicted anti-establishment attitudes. The results support an emotional appraisal approach to anti-establishment attitudes, which highlights the importance of anxiety and feeling threatened regardless of what type of event elicits the threat.

Using MI-LASSO to study populist radical right voting in times of pandemic

As immigration issues waned in salience during the COVID-19 pandemic, populist radical right (PRR) parties repositioned themselves by politicizing various pandemic policies. In light of this changing political landscape, scholars have analyzed what factors are associated with PRR voting. Yet, most studies focus on small sets of covariates that could easily ignore other key determinants. To address this limitation, we use MI-LASSO logistic regression, which is a more inductive data-driven approach that can incorporate a huge number of covariates. Our research analyzes the key determinants of voting for the People’s Party of Canada—a PRR party that rose rapidly during the pandemic. Using the 2021 Canadian Election Study dataset ( N = 14,841), we confirm that PRR voters in the pandemic were both protest and policy-oriented voters. They were protest voters since anti-establishment attitudes consistently correlate with their vote choice. On the other hand, PRR voters’ policy concern was about pandemic policies rather than immigration, as nativist attitudes never emerge as key determinants. Additionally, we uncover that the ideological placement of the mainstream right party and the defense of hate speech are strong correlates, while conventional variables like sociodemographics are not. These findings enrich our understanding of PRR voting during the pandemic.

Does regional decline trigger discontent? Unravelling regional development in the Netherlands

ABSTRACT A new geography of regional decline is signalled as a prominent source of discontent. This study considers regional divides in the Netherlands, and examines what trajectories can be detected in regional development and how these relate to recent regional discontent. Based on quantitative analyses of longitudinal data at the NUTS-3 level, we found a persistence of social and economic inequalities over the last decade(s). Our main result is that evidence for economic decline at the regional scale is limited, and unlikely to account for regional discontent in the Netherlands. Pathways of regional divergence and decline were mostly found in demographic change. Anti-establishment attitudes across Dutch regions were strongly associated with lower income, lower population change and ageing.

Social media policy in two dimensions: understanding the role of anti-establishment beliefs and political ideology in Americans’ attribution of responsibility regarding online content

ABSTRACT While government regulators, the press, and academics struggle to determine who should be responsible for content on social media platforms, we know little about what the public believes about these issues. In this study, we investigate what drives Americans’ opinions on whether the government, platforms, or individual users should be responsible for social media content. Using data from a nationally representative survey of over 10,000 Americans, we investigate how anti-establishment attitudes relate to who Americans believe should be responsible for content on social media. We also examine the role of beliefs in the government’s role in the market, free speech beliefs, and beliefs in individual responsibility in this context. Among other findings, we show how anti-establishment beliefs and beliefs in individual responsibility may drive people to put the onus on individual users to bear the responsibility for online content. Theoretically, our study contributes to the ongoing discussion in sociology and political science that partisanship alone is not sufficient for explaining American public opinion. Practically, this study contributes to the ongoing public discussion around content moderation and related policies.

Liberal and anti-establishment: An exploration of the political ideologies of American tech workers

The tech industry profoundly impacts our lives and has gained great economic and political influence. Yet, we know little about the people inside tech firms, whose actions and decisions shape technological progress and its impact on society. What is of particular relevance is their opinions and beliefs about the proper order of society and the societal role of tech firms – that is to say, their political ideologies. The few existing studies on this topic mainly concentrate on tech leaders. Our study shifts attention to the workers who develop the technology. Numerous works highlight their influence on the affordances of technology and decisions taken by their firms. Our quantitative analysis of campaign contributions shows that American tech workers exhibit a unique combination of left-wing (liberal) and anti-establishment attitudes. Moreover, we expose a substantial ideological divide between tech workers and their leaders. We discuss these findings in relation to the development of new technologies, employee activism, and tech workers as a distinct class fraction.

The life course of impulsive males from childhood to adulthood

PurposeThis paper aims to advance knowledge about the life course of impulsive males from childhood to adulthood, based on data collected in the Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development (CSDD) from age 8 to 65 and to investigate which factors are related to impulsiveness at different ages.Design/methodology/approachThe CSDD is a prospective longitudinal survey of 411 London males first studied in 1961–1962 at age eight. The males have been assessed face-to-face nine times from age 8 to 48. A total of 77 impulsive boys and 334 non-impulsive boys were identified at ages 8–10 using three measures of impulsiveness: daring/risk-taking (rated by parents and peers), psychomotor clumsiness/impulsivity (based on psychomotor tests of the boys) and poor concentration/restless in class (rated by teachers).FindingsParental, family, socio-economic, academic attainment and behavioural factors in childhood were the most significant variables that were related to impulsiveness at ages 8–10. Impulsive males had low IQ, truancy, high daring and a high antisocial personality score at ages 12–14. No exams passed, and a low socio-economic status job were especially significant at ages 16–18, while poor employment, convictions (especially for violence), anti-establishment attitudes and an unsuccessful life were especially characteristic of impulsive males in adulthood (ages 32–48).Practical implicationsChild skills training programmes are needed to reduce childhood impulsiveness.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first-ever publication that documents the life course of impulsive males from childhood to late adulthood.

‘What the heck: Eskorbuto for PM!’: Eskorbuto’s punk music and anarchist ideology

Eskorbuto was one of the most important Spanish-speaking punk bands and the most extreme among those belonging to the ‘Basque Radical Rock’ movement in the 1980s. This article aims to analyse the ideological components of Eskorbuto’s discourse in relation to the political philosophy of anarchism. More specifically, the objective is to ascertain whether Eskorbuto’s music represents key anarchist values, and whether their discourse may be characterized as anarcho-punk. The study focuses on a context-sensitive discourse analysis of Eskorbuto’s lyrics. Results indicate that, through punk music, Eskorbuto’s discourse was linked to anarchism, to the extent that the Basque band was energized by punk’s anti-establishment attitude. However, results also reveal that the socially constructive values of anarchism – such as the belief in a natural order, or the vision of a self-managed collectivist economy – were not clearly conveyed in the band’s nihilistic lyrics. The scope and limits of Eskorbuto’s anarcho-punk characteristics are considered, before discussing the relationship of the band’s raw and confrontational message with the concept of punk-anarchism.

The Many Guises of Populism and Crisis: Introduction to the Special Issue on Populism and Global Crises

Populism is a powerful social force that has reshaped the political landscapes of many nations since the turn of the 21st century. Much of the success of populist movements is attributed to various social crises and a deep dissatisfaction with political systems. In the present issue, we sought to find papers that investigate what drives the demand for populist politics during crises on a psychological level and, correspondingly, how populist rhetoric influences the way individuals think about, and respond, to crises. In this editorial, we introduce a multidisciplinary issue and summarize the key themes stemming from the articles included. The contributions addressed various forms of crises; from identity issues to global transformations, and various aspects of populism; from the antiestablishment attitudes of the public, to the populist rhetoric of political actors. There was also a key theme centered on the role of emotions. We believe that these topics are of great interest to political psychologists of any mold. We hope that this special issue can play a part in increasing our understanding of how populism thrives during crises and in driving future research on this topic.

Feeling Left Behind by Political Decisionmakers: Anti-Establishment Sentiment in Contemporary Democracies

According to much of the extant literature, feelings and beliefs among many citizens of being left behind and unheard by unresponsive political decisionmakers, who lack moral integrity represent the epicenter of recent protest and populist discontent in democratic society. Based on survey data for 20 contemporary democracies from two ISSP waves, we found that anti-establishment attitudes are not shared among the majority of respondents. Although there are differences between country contexts. Such sentiment is associated with macrostructural dynamics, since unfavorable attitudes toward politicians are more widespread among publics in countries which are exposed to higher levels of public corruption and witnessed increasing levels of income inequality. Besides, such sentiment is also restricted to particular social groups of society, because hostile feelings toward political decisionmakers are stronger among citizens in the lower ranks of society and among younger birth cohorts. Since the beginning of the century and throughout the Great Recession, unfavorable attitudes toward politicians have not increased among the public in advanced democracies. However, our analysis indicates that respondents with such attitudes have increasingly turned toward voting for anti-elite parties to raise their voice and now make use of online options to express their political views more frequently than in the past. Overall, the analysis contributes to recent research on populist and reactionist dynamics in contemporary democracies by addressing dynamics and structures of the feeling of being left behind by political decisionmakers and its implications for political (in)activity.

The Brexit Vote and The Trump Vote: A comparative study of the common trends and factors that led to a populist radical right vote in Britain and the United States

The two symbols of Western liberal democracies – Britain and the US – became in 2016 hotbeds of radical right populism. The vote for Brexit and Donald Trump’s election represent two spectacular populist victories and this article will highlight the strikingly similar dynamics at work in both elections. We will see that the two populist leaders, Nigel Farage in Britain and Donald Trump in the US, mobilised the same arguments and themes to connect to an audience which for years had nourished resentment and anger at the way traditional politicians had governed national politics in their respective countries. Thus, with the Brexit and Trump victories, fringe narratives became mainstream politics and upset the established political order. Nativism, racism and xenophobia, anti-establishment attitudes became the dominant themes of the political debate. It is important to understand how two major Western democracies surrendered to the populist calls and this article tries to provide an analysis on this populist phenomenon in Britain and the US.

Migration, Corruption, and Ideological Centrism: Explanations of Anti-Establishment Attitudes in the Czech Republic

Migration, Corruption, and Ideological Centrism: Explanations of Anti-Establishment Attitudes in the Czech Republic

The impact of anti-establishment parties on the electoral success of independent local lists: Evidence from Germany

Independent local lists (ILL) have become an important non-partisan actor in many local elections. However, little is known about which factors explain their electoral success. Drawing on recent contributions regarding the anti-establishment attitudes of many ILL, we argue that the rise of anti-establishment parties, especially the rise of populist radical-right parties, potentially harms the electoral success of ILL. Our main argument is that both actors attract voters that are dissatisfied with established parties. To test this hypothesis, we draw on the case of municipal elections in the German federal state of Lower Saxony. In the election of 2016, the populist radical-right party AfD competed in only a subset of all municipalities, meaning that some voters could cast their vote for the AfD in only some of the municipalities. We use a difference-in-differences approach to estimate the effect of the AfD on independent local list’s vote share and demonstrate that ILL suffered strongly from the entrance of the AfD to the electoral arena. More specifically, our findings demonstrate that the increase in the success of ILL was halted in municipalities in which the AfD competed, while it continued to increase in regions where the AfD was absent. These findings suggest that the increasing success of ILL is due to voters’ dissatisfaction with the established parties and not necessarily due to an increasing interest in local issues.

To leave or not to leave? Understanding the support for the United Kingdom membership in the European Union: Identity, attitudes towards the political system and socio-economic status

This article proposes a decision model of the British support for leaving the European Union (EU) that includes both identity aspirations, attitudes towards the political system and economic interest and test it on the Understanding Society 6th, 7th and 8th surveys. Current studies tend to interpret the British Euroscepticism as a combination of attachment to British identity, lack of economic opportunities and dissatisfaction with the political class. Using this approach where factors are additive, it is not possible to account for the substantial portion of socio-economically advantaged individuals which prefer to leave the EU, and for those who, despite their low attachment to their British identity, the relatively high educational level and satisfaction with domestic democracy, prefer to leave the EU. I use a theoretical approach which considers both economic and cultural considerations as rational considerations and conceptualise their interaction in terms of trade off. I use classification tree analysis to evaluate the relative importance of the main explanatory factors and of their interaction. The results show that the negative evaluation of the political system makes certain groups, which otherwise tend to support European integration, lean towards Euroscepticism. It helps to explain the Euroscepticism of those who are less attached to their British identity and of advantaged classes. The results have also showed that anti-establishment attitudes are not associated with disadvantaged socio-economic groups. The dissatisfaction with domestic democracy is relevant mostly for the advantaged classes, and the lack of political efficacy affects equally the attitudes of advantaged and disadvantaged groups. Last, disadvantaged groups’ support for European integration is driven by identity aspirations not by economic interest.

Right‐Wing Populism and Climate Change Denial: The Roles of Exclusionary and Anti‐Egalitarian Preferences, Conservative Ideology, and Antiestablishment Attitudes

AbstractPopulist right‐wing politicians and voters tend to dismiss climate change. To investigate possible reasons for this, we tested correlations between climate change denial and variables linked to right‐wing populism (Study 1: N = 1,587; Study 2: N = 909). The strongest predictor of climate change denial was an index capturing exclusionary and anti‐egalitarian preferences (opposition to, e.g., multiculturalism and feminism), followed by traditional values (Study 1) and Social Dominance Orientation (Study 2). Populist antiestablishment attitudes correlated only weakly with climate change denial, and this correlation vanished when exclusionary and anti‐egalitarian preferences were controlled for. Also, the effects of authoritarianism (Study 2) and (low) openness vanished in the full models. Climate change denial did not correlate with (low) agreeableness, which is a personality trait linked to populism. However, both antiestablishment attitudes and climate change denial correlated with pseudoscientific beliefs (e.g., anti‐vaccination attitudes) (Study 1). To conclude, we did not find support for a notable linkage between climate change denial and populist antiestablishment attitudes. Thus, when addressing climate change denial, it could be more beneficial to focus on the ideological worldviews that are being protected by denial, such as endorsement of the existing societal power relations, than on the antiestablishment arguments used by some who deny.

Rozważania nad populistyczną naturą Alternatywy dla Niemiec

Reflections on the populist nature of the Alternative for Germany political partyAlternative for Germany has recently become a phenomenon on the German political scene, especially after the 2017 Bundestag elections. The article contains an analysis and an attempt to explain the populist nature of the party, pointing to what elements may confirm or deny its populistic character. There are some indicators that show Alternative for Germany can be described as an example of populism, especially including the use of left- and right-wing postulates, an anti-system and anti-establishment attitude, temporalization of constructing political communication and usage of social sentiments. On the other hand, there are some visible determinants that go beyond the model of the populist party, for instance the technocratic nature of the party, the lack of a significant unit of a charismatic leader. Also, many issues that raise doubts can be underlined, for example the ideological sphere of the party. Furthermore, the article also contains considerations about the possible effects of functioning of the political group in the German party system.

Martyrs for Free Speech? Disentangling the Effects of Legal Prosecution of Anti-immigration Politicians on their Electoral Support

Several anti-immigration politicians in Europe have been prosecuted for hate speech; some of these trials were highly mediatized. To what extent, and how, does hate speech prosecution of anti-immigration politicians affect voting for their party? We address this question by an experiment (N = 372) using manipulated versions of a television news story about a politician of the Dutch Party Forum for Democracy (FvD). We go beyond prior studies by disentangling the mechanisms driving the electoral ramifications of hate speech prosecution, assessing the moderating role of multiculturalist attitudes separately and in combination with six mediators (anti-establishment attitudes, issue salience immigration, perceived party’s effectiveness and legitimacy, support for free speech, and perceived party visibility). Among voters who are positive toward multiculturalism, exposure to a news story about prosecution boosts support for free speech and perceived visibility and support for the FvD. Both aspects are positively related to voting for FvD. This improves our understanding of the mechanisms of hate speech prosecution, informing public debates of how to react to controversial speech by politicians.

Defiance labour and reflexive complicity: Illusio and gendered marginalisation in DIY punk scenes

Since punk emerged in the 1970s as a music genre and subculture it has gained significant academic attention. Punk as a concept now alludes to specific places or scenes, and has been established as a general anti-establishment attitude, as well as an anti-consumerist disposition, with a need to do-it-yourself (DIY). Drawing upon ethnographic and interview data from the east coast of Australia, this article analyses struggles that occur within punk spaces where women and queer identifying punks negotiate historically established male dominance. Punk scenes have the general illusio of being resistant to dominant norms and practices, which is attractive to individuals who feel like outsiders. Yet through symbolic violence, systematic oppression can be perpetrated against those who do not invoke idealised forms of masculinity or femininity. Using the affective transference of gendered norms in punk spaces, we find struggles that are often homogenised in punk research which attends critically to subcultural themes of collectivism and resistance. By unpacking these themes, this article puts forth the concepts of reflexive complicity – where men and women reproduce inequality in punk spaces – and defiance labour – moments of overt challenge to symbolic violence within punk spaces and scenes.