Trust In Political Institutions Research Articles

Rally Around the Government or a Populist Response? How Concerns About COVID-19 and Emotional Responses Relate to Institutional Trust and Support for Right-Wing Populism

Recent studies have shown that the coronavirus pandemic not only temporarily increased support for incumbent politicians and trust in experts but also triggered an authoritarian response. Because the pandemic has significantly affected individuals’ goals, needs, and control over their lives, we expect that it has generated emotional reactions. In this article, we study how concerns about COVID-19 relate to institutional trust (trust in political institutions and experts) and a preference for populist right parties—directly and indirectly—via emotions. Our theoretical framework relies on the “rally around the flag” hypothesis, the cultural backlash theory, as well as appraisal theories of emotions. We analyze a novel data set collected as part of the Longitudinal Internet Studies for the Social Sciences Panel Survey for the Netherlands at the beginning of the second wave of the pandemic (October 2020). Our findings reveal that concerns about COVID-19 are positively related to institutional trust but unrelated to preferences for right-wing populism. The relationship between concerns about the coronavirus crisis and trust in political institutions is mediated via fear and sadness; these emotions also explain opposition to right-wing populist parties. We interpret our findings in relation to research on the rally around the flag effect, right-wing populism, and emotions. We discuss the implications of our results in the context of the coronavirus pandemic and other “rally”-inducing events.

Sympathies for Putin Within the German Public: A Consequence of Political Alienation?

AbstractWhy do individuals in democratic nations sympathize with autocratic leaders from abroad? In this article, we address this general question with regard to Germans’ attitudes toward Vladimir Putin in the aftermath of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Building on the intuition that “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” and its formalization in balance theory, our study focuses on the role of political alienation at home. To study this role comprehensively, we consider several facets of political alienation: a lack of trust in political institutions, low support for democracy as a regime, a sense of estrangement from public discourse, and an inclination toward conspiracy thinking. Using longitudinal analyses on data from the German Longitudinal Election Study panel, we provide empirical evidence consistent with our argument that political alienation—particularly in terms of low political trust and a proclivity for conspiracy thinking—drives sympathies for Putin and his regime. Against the backdrop of mounting attempts by Russia and other autocratic powers to influence discourses in Western societies via some segments of society, our findings illuminate one important source of sympathy for Putin and, potentially, foreign autocrats more broadly.

ANALYSIS OF POLITICAL COMMUNICATION, POLITICAL LEADERSHIP IN POLITICAL PARTIES, POLITICAL COSTS, GOVERNMENT SUPPORT FOR PUBLIC TRUST IN ACEH PROVINCE

Purpose: The purpose of this research is to analyze the influence of political communication, political leadership within political parties, political costs, and government support on public trust in Aceh Province.   Theoretical framework: The urgency of analyzing political communication, political leadership within political parties, political costs, and government support for public trust in Aceh Province lies in the importance of understanding and enhancing the quality of the political process in the region. By deepening the understanding of these factors, efforts can be made to strengthen effective political communication, build quality political leadership, manage political costs effectively, and increase government support for political parties. This is expected to have a positive impact on public trust in political parties, strengthen democracy, and promote sustainable development in Aceh Province.   Design/methodology/approach: the study used an explanatory research method with a quantitative approach in Aceh province. It focused on variables such as political communication, leadership qualities within political parties, political costs, government support, public trust, and voting intention. The sample consisted of 278 respondents, selected using purposive sampling. Data was collected over four months using Google Forms. The objective was to analyze the influence of political communication, leadership qualities, political costs, and government support on public trust, as factors affecting voting intention. Data processing involved steps such as data inspection, coding, and tabulation using an index table. Descriptive analysis, specifically the Index Analysis technique, was used to depict respondents' perceptions.   Findings: This research reveals interesting insights into the perception and voting intention towards political parties in Aceh. Respondents showed high satisfaction and agreement with the variables of political communication, leadership qualities within political parties, political costs, and government support in the context of legislative and regional elections. Political communication was perceived as effective by the respondents, and the leadership qualities within political parties were also highly rated. While respondents expressed satisfaction with political costs in elections, there are concerns regarding the proportional relationship between high political costs and the perceived quality of political parties by the public. Government support for political parties was considered satisfactory as well. Public trust can be eroded by corruption, injustice, or government failure to meet public expectations. Therefore, it is important for political parties and the government to strengthen their relationship with the public through empowerment, openness, and responsiveness to public aspirations. The findings of this research provide valuable insights for political parties to improve their strategies. Effective political communication, charismatic leadership within political parties, efficient management of political costs, and strong government support are crucial factors in building trust and winning the hearts of voters.   Research, Practical & Social implications: The research findings reveal important insights into the perception and voting intention towards political parties in Aceh. The respondents expressed high satisfaction and agreement with variables such as political communication, leadership qualities within political parties, political costs, and government support in the context of elections. Effective political communication was identified as a crucial factor in building trust between political parties and voters, while the leadership qualities within political parties were highly valued by the respondents. Transparent management of campaign funds and strong government support were also considered important for maintaining public trust. These findings have practical implications for political parties to improve their strategies, including enhancing political communication, developing competent leaders, ensuring transparency in campaign finance, and fostering good relations with the government. Furthermore, the research highlights the social implications of trust in political institutions, emphasizing the need for transparency, accountability, and responsiveness to public aspirations to maintain public trust in the government and promote a healthy political system and democracy.   Originality/value: This research provides original insights into the perception and voting intention towards political parties in Aceh, highlighting high satisfaction with political communication, leadership qualities, political costs, and government support. However, concerns arise regarding the proportional relationship between high political costs and the perceived quality of political parties. It emphasizes the importance of strengthening the relationship between political parties, the government, and the public through empowerment, openness, and responsiveness to build trust. The findings offer valuable recommendations for political parties to improve their strategies, focusing on effective communication, charismatic leadership, efficient management of costs, and strong government support as crucial factors in winning the hearts of voters.

THE PARTISAN PARTICIPATION IN THE JORDANIAN PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS

Purpose: The study explores parliamentary elections, election laws, and party attitudes, using content analysis to understand their impact on electoral outcomes. It suggests recommendations for enhancing trust and promoting democratic principles.
  
 Theoretical framework: The study's theoretical framework may incorporate political science and sociology concepts, focusing on electoral processes, political parties, and democratic governance. It may explore institutionalism, party systems theory, democratic theory, and content analysis methodology to understand the impact of election laws, party behavior, and democratic norms on political outcomes.
  
 Design/Methodology/Approach:  The study's theoretical framework may incorporate political science and sociology concepts, focusing on electoral processes, political parties, and democratic governance. It may explore institutionalism, party systems theory, democratic theory, and content analysis methodology to understand the impact of election laws, party behavior, and democratic norms on political outcomes.
  
 Findings: The study may have revealed the dynamic nature of the electoral environment, the impact of election laws on party behavior, partisan positions on electoral processes, the effectiveness of political parties in elections, trust in political institutions, and recommendations for electoral reform. These findings could help strengthen democratic governance and electoral processes.
  
 Research, Practical & Social Implications: The study provides empirical insights into party behavior and election laws, highlighting the importance of qualitative research methods. It can inform policymakers, political parties, and civil society organizations in electoral reforms, enhancing fairness, transparency, and inclusivity. The findings can also promote trust, civic engagement, and protection of human rights, fostering a more inclusive democracy.
  
 Originality/Value: The study provides valuable insights into evolving electoral dynamics, partisan positions, and electoral outcomes. It offers recommendations for improving trust and promoting democratic principles. The content analysis method provides a rigorous framework for analyzing textual data, enhancing the robustness of the findings.

Like a bridge over troubled water: Wellbeing and trust in governance during turbulent times

The COVID-19 pandemic extended interest in the relationships between citizens and governments in turbulent times of crises and emergencies. While the pandemic generated a critical existential threat to the lives of many, it also had a significant effect on the quality of life and on the wellbeing of even larger populations. This paper deals with the relationship between the wellbeing of citizens and three types of trust in governance (i.e. trust in political institutions, trust in public administration, trust in enforcement institutions) during the pandemic. We aim at advancing knowledge on both wellbeing and trust during crises, and more specifically on direct and indirect patterns of these important relationships. To do so, we suggest alternative models and a series of hypotheses aimed at examining them empirically. Two datasets on Israeli citizens are used. They were collected over two points in time during the heat of the pandemic and toward its decline and end (Study 1/t1; N = 1026 and Study 2/t2; N = 3024) and largely represent major sectors and ethnicities in the population. The findings generally support a positive relationship between wellbeing and trust, but more importantly indicate that during crisis, trust in public administration and enforcement institutions mediates the relationship between wellbeing and trust in political institutions. We thus argue that the public service may act as a bridge between citizens’ wellbeing and political trust. In our view, the findings testify to the complexity of the wellbeing–trust relationship, especially in challenging times. Implications and directions for future studies are suggested. Points for practitioners Trust in governance is different for various political institutions and for different public administration organizations, especially in turbulent times Civil servants should be aware of citizens’ wellbeing during crises as it affects trust in governance Citizen trust and wellbeing are significantly related in times of emergency and crises

Multilevel analysis of COVID-19 vaccination intention: the moderating role of economic and cultural country characteristics.

Predictors of COVID-19 (coronavirus) vaccination have been extensively researched; however, the contextual factors contributing to understanding vaccination intention remain largely unexplored. The present study aimed to investigate the moderating role of economic development (Gross domestic product - GDP per capita), economic inequality (Gini index), the perceived corruption index and Hofstede's measurements of cultural values-index of individualism/collectivism and power distance index-in the relationship between determinants of satisfaction with the healthcare system, trust in political institutions, conspiracy beliefs and COVID-19 vaccination intention. A multilevel modelling approach was employed on a sample of approximately 51000 individuals nested within 26 countries. Data were drawn from the European Social Survey Round 10. The model examined the effect of individual- and country-level predictors and their interaction on vaccination intention. Satisfaction with the healthcare system had a stronger positive effect on intention to get vaccinated in countries with lower perceived corruption and more individualistic countries. Trust in political institutions had a stronger positive effect on vaccination intention in countries with higher economic development and lower perceived corruption, while a negative effect of conspiracy beliefs on vaccination intention was stronger in countries with lower economic development, higher perceived corruption and a more collectivistic cultural orientation. Our findings highlight the importance of considering individual and contextual factors when addressing vaccination intention.

The relationship between institutional quality, trust and private savings

Abstract This paper draws on macroeconomics, the economics of institutions and the economics of trust to explain private savings at the national level for 33 OECD (mostly European) countries from 2002 to 2012. More specifically, it raises two questions: (i) is it the quality of institutions or trust in institutions that drives private savings? (ii) if trust matters, what is the appropriate institutional level at which it operates? To answer these questions, we add to the usual explanatory variables of private savings three measures of institutional quality and six measures of institutional trust, distributed between the following institutional levels, presented in assumed hierarchical order: political, legal, financial and social. We find that trust in political institutions is the most significant driver of private savings. This contributes to the literature underlining the importance of subjectivity in social and economic phenomena and suggests, for private bank savings in countries having highly regulated banking systems, the existence of a hierarchy of trust in which trust in the highest-ranking institutions (political – and to a lesser extent legal – institutions) acts as a substitute for trust in every lower-ranking institution (financial institutions and social trust).

Латинская Америка: колебания политического маятника Ивановский З.В., ред. Латинская Америка: политический ландшафт на фоне турбулентности. М.: ИЛА РАН, 2022

The left and right, democratic, hybrid, and authoritarian systems, consolidated and unconsolidated democracies, rising giant-states and underdeveloped economies coexist in the region of Latin America and the Caribbean, which covers more than three dozen states that share common historical destiny, language, and religion. This makes the region a fertile ground for studying various types of regimes, political processes and alternative development paths in the modern world, as vividly demonstrated by the collective monograph “Latin America: Political Landscape in the Midst of Turbulence”, published at the end of 2022. Based on a thorough analysis of the situation in the region, the authors of the monograph show that political life in Latin America is characterized by instability and constant reshaping of the political landscape. The strengthening of the positions of right-wing forces replaced the left turn of the 2000s, and since the beginning of the 2020s, the continent has again drifted to the left. The authors pay special attention to the following factors of turbulence in the development of the region: a natural-resource-based economy in most Latin American countries, poor quality of governance, a decline in trust in political institutions caused by regular corruption scandals, the criminalization of society, the increase in drug trafficking and violence, and the inability of law enforcement agencies to ensure citizens’ safety. Several chapters of the monograph are devoted to the varieties of regimes of the “21st century socialism” that exist in Venezuela, Nicaragua and Bolivia, as well as to the oldest socialist regime on the continent in Cuba. According to the reviewer’s conclusion, with the publication of this monograph the readers received valuable work that allows them to better comprehend the essence of the complex political processes that take place in Latin America today.

Ideas about the future in the collective consciousness of Russians

The article discusses the interpretation of the image of the future in the views of Russians. Special attention is paid to the peculiarities of the formation of the image of the future in conditions of political instability. It is shown that citizens' ideas about the future of their loved ones and the state are influenced by current social problems and contradictions. However, we are not talking about the mechanical transfer of actual experiences of respondents to an idealized future. The factors determining the complex and multi-stage process of constructing the image of the future in the public consciousness are revealed. It is shown that trust in political institutions and state power is one of the main factors in the process of forming a relatively consistent and positive image of the future. The reasons for the weak reaction of society to various types of threats, including corruption and social inequality, are analyzed. Ideological concepts and the stereotypes that have manifested themselves in recent years in the minds of Russian citizens. The role of mass media in the construction of collective ideas about threats to the existence of the state in the medium term is noted. The evolution of conservative political attitudes in the mass consciousness under the influence of the official political narrative is traced. The fact of the growth of anxiety and alarmist ideas about the near future in various social groups is noted, as a psychological reaction of individuals to incomplete information about the ongoing political changes in society. At the same time, there is an obvious trend towards preserving democratic institutions and values that modern Russian society is not going to abandon. The article is descriptive and abstract in nature. The method of secondary analysis is applied. The conclusions are based on the publications of the Institute of Socio-Political Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences in 1992-2022 , and according to the data of the All-Russian monitoring "How are you living, Russia?" (1992-2022), a comprehensive sociological study "Forecasts and alternatives for the development of Russia through the eyes of Russians" (2021). On the basis of the conducted research, criteria are identified that ensure the reproduction of stereotypical ideas about the future in the analyzed social groups. The study of the features of the formation of the image of the future can be useful for making political decisions aimed at the development of the state-political system, the improvement of civil society and the consolidation of modern Russian society based on the adoption of national values and ideals. The factors hindering the construction of a holistic image of the future in present-day Russia are considered. The relevance of the studied topic is explained by the fact that the analysis of the structural features of the formation and functioning of collective ideas about the future of the state contributes to the understanding of complex socio-psychological processes.

The Shadow Economy and Social Change in North Korea

ABSTRACT North Koreans have relied on the shadow economy since the collapse of socialism in the 1990s, but little is known about the degree to which informal markets have influenced the country’s everyday politics. Based on a large-scale survey of defectors, as well as interviews with almost 100 defectors, including some who had been high-ranking officials prior to leaving North Korea, this article finds that the shadow economy has elicited many changes. First, informal marketisation has affected social practices in the workplace, such as reduced job attendance, decreased participation in mandatory organisational meetings, and a strengthened public perception that official job allocations are unfair. Second, the shadow economy has spread unfavourable views of the official welfare system, leading people to prefer life in the market to their past reliance on the command economy. Third, the shadow economy has led to rampant corruption, strengthening popular perceptions that officials are corrupt and law enforcement is unfair. Finally, the shadow economy has negatively affected public views of the North Korean regime, decreasing loyalty to the leadership and reducing public trust in political institutions. Despite these social transformations, people remain sceptical about the idea of regime change due to tight social control.

The Effect of Social Recognition on Support for Climate Change Mitigation Measures

Social recognition is introduced as an explanatory factor for support for climate change mitigation measures to complement already existing research. Drawing on social identity theory, it is established that respect emanating from being part of a generation and social class increases support for climate policies through positive influence on self-assessed financial situation, trust in political institutions, generalized trust, and solidarity. Considering the costs and benefits of climate policies, it is assumed that the importance of respect varies between generations and social classes. Analyses are based on data which were collected via online survey (n = 3046) in September and October 2022 that are representative of the German resident population. Results from linear regressions and structural equation modeling corroborate that the influence of social recognition varies between generations and that it operates through the suggested mechanisms. The most important of these mechanisms is the strengthening of solidarity and trust in political institutions by social recognition.

Institutional Trust as an Object of Political Science Analysis: The Measurement Problem

The problem of trust in political institutions is currently relevant and is becoming the object of research in many scientific fields, including political science. The interest of foreign and Russian researchers is not only the understanding of this phenomenon at the theoretical level, but also its empirical analysis for solving practical problems. In addition to the problem of a conceptual explanation of the concept of “institutional trust”, which has developed due to the theoretical diversity of interpretations of this phenomenon, scientists are faced with the need to choose the best way to collect and measure data (depending on the purpose of a particular study). In this paper, the author focuses on the problem of measuring institutional trust, highlights the key areas of institutional trust analysis, considers their advantages and disadvantages.

Organized crime, violence and support for the state

Citizens’ support is crucial to effectively combat organized crime, a substantial threat to many countries. Contrary to prior studies identifying a negative correlation between crime and trust in the state, studying a representative sample of 5374 individuals in Italy we find that exposing the participants to journalistic images of organized crime-related violence increases trust towards institutions and state performance (measured by donations to a governmental as opposed to a non-governmental organization), perceived institutional quality, and trust in political institutions. This is remarkable considering that the participants are overly pessimistic about trends in violence: About two-thirds believe that mafia-related homicides and total homicides increased in Italy over the last two decades, and half believe that they increased by over 20%, while in reality both types of homicides declined by over 60%. These findings are relevant for governments and organizations interested in non-repressive methods to fight criminal organizations, as they underscore the potential impact of media narratives on shaping public attitudes toward crime and state authorities.

Do you trust the rumors? Examining the determinants of health‐related misinformation in India

AbstractRumors, conspiracies, and health‐related misinformation have gone hand‐in‐hand with the global COVID‐19 pandemic, making it hard to obtain reliable and accurate information. Against this background, this study examined the different psychosocial predictors of believing in conspiratorial information related to general health in India. Indian participants (N = 826) responded to measures related to conspiratorial thinking, trust, moral emotions, political ideology, bullshit receptivity, and belief in conspiratorial information in an online survey. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were used to determine the validity of the instruments used with an Indian sample. Results revealed that lower subjective socioeconomic status, lower trust in political institutions, greater negative moral emotions, greater conspiratorial thinking, and right‐leaning political ideology predicted beliefs in health‐related conspiratorial information. In highlighting these potential psychosocial determinants of conspiratorial beliefs, we can move toward combating conspiracies effectively and developing necessary interventions for the same. Future work can focus on assessing the moderating effects of political ideology on conspiratorial beliefs in India.

Constitutional values & political trust: Foundations for student democratic participation

The paper is based on the concept of political culture, which is particularly important for the maintenance and functioning of a democratic political system and is closely linked with the politicl literacy of young people. In this paper research focus is on the two dimensions of political culture – political values and trust. Specifically, the main research question is: what are the determinants of accepting constitutional values and the trust in political institutions of final year secondary school pupils? The paper use the data provided by research on political literacy of final year secondary school pupils. In order to provide answer to the research question the hierarchical multiple regression is used. In the first step, particular socio-demographic variables (sex, education of mother and education of father) were introduced. In the second step, the type of secondary school education was added. The third group of predictors encompassed the level of religiosity, generalized prejudices and authoritarianism. In the final step political knowledge was included. The introduced model provides certain explanation regarding constitutional values, but fails to explain distrust in political institutions. The phenomenon of low trust in political institutions is discussed in paper.

Political Participation of the Millennial Generation in General Elections: The Influence of Education, Social Media, and Economic Factors

The Millennial generation, comprising individuals born between the early 1980s and mid-1990s, represents a significant demographic group with the potential to shape the political landscape. This research investigates the multifaceted determinants of Millennial political participation in general elections, seeking to unravel the complexities that drive or hinder their engagement in the democratic process. Employing a mixed-methods approach encompassing surveys and interviews, this study examines key factors influencing Millennial political behavior. The research findings reveal several pivotal insights; Firstly, education emerges as a critical catalyst for Millennial political participation, emphasizing the importance of civic education programs in nurturing political awareness. Secondly, social media platforms, such as Twitter and Facebook, have assumed a transformative role, serving as potent tools for information dissemination, mobilization, and interactive political discourse. Thirdly, economic challenges, notably student loan debt and economic insecurity, persist as formidable barriers, necessitating targeted policies to alleviate these concerns and encourage political engagement. Fourthly, trust in political institutions emerges as a motivating factor, highlighting the significance of transparency and accountability in enhancing Millennial voter turnout. Lastly, non-electoral civic activities, including volunteering and community service, serve as precursors to broader political involvement, underscoring the value of encouraging civic engagement. The implications drawn from these findings reverberate through the realms of policy, political strategy, and societal empowerment. Recommendations include investments in civic education, leveraging social media for political outreach, addressing economic disparities, and fostering civic engagement. As Millennial political participation continues to evolve, this research underscores the importance of empirical analysis in informing effective strategies and policies. It serves as a clarion call for collective action, urging stakeholders across academia, politics, and civil society to empower Millennials as active and informed participants in the democratic process. This research contributes not only to academic knowledge but also to the practical endeavor of strengthening democratic foundations, ensuring that the voices of Millennials resonate within the corridors of governance, and shaping the trajectory of our collective political future

The Elusive Effect of Political Trust on Participation: Participatory Resource or (Dis)incentive?

Although political trust has long been linked to political participation, its effects remain elusive. Trust in political institutions may enhance levels of participation, diminish political engagement, or yield distinct effects depending on the activity. This article examines these diverging effects through a rational choice framework, with which we theorize and test whether political trust functions as a resource or a (dis)incentive to participate. Specifically, we assess the direct effects of political trust on intended participation and its moderating effects on outcome-related motivations and activity type. To this end, we use a factorial survey experiment in the Netherlands and the United Kingdom to isolate the effects of outcome-related motivations and to disentangle participation from the effectiveness of action and the effect of activity type, factors that remain confounded in existing survey measures of participation. Overall, our findings suggest that political trust operates as a (dis)incentive, rather than a resource spurring participation.

Trends in Social Cohesion and Trust towards European and National Institutions in Greece after 12 Years Long Financial Surveillance

The aim of this paper is to analyze the impact of the joint EU-IMF surveillance on Greek government spending from 2010 onwards, and the effects these have had on the country’s social cohesion and trust in political institutions. After overviewing Greece’s most recent history, the paper focuses on social and political variables aiming at tracking governmental turnover and its alignment to EU policies and budgetary constraints, hypothesizing a decrease in social cohesion and institutional trust. Social cohesion is indirectly measured through indicators about public-spending and sociological variables on which austerity measures impacted, investigating socio-economic secondary data as trend analysis. Moreover, this study takes into consideration the trends of people’s trust towards national and EU institutions, assessing the overall commitment towards the adopted measures of the 2010–2022 time frame. Nowadays, Greece shows simultaneously signals of incremented governmental stability and persisting structural suffering in welfare policies, social cohesion and institutional trust.

Citizens' policy perception, policy measures, and trust in political institutions after the first wave of COVID-19

Crises bring both human consequences and political repercussions. COVID-19, like any other crisis, strained both European governments and public support for them. During the first wave of the pandemic, political trust was correlated with public adherence to infection containment measures in the major democracies. At the end of the first wave, how did public perceptions of COVID-19 measures and of measures introduced by institutions to protect health and the economy affect the bond of political trust between the governed and the governors? Using Eurobarometer data, we estimate the effects on political trust of the public’s assessment of institutional performance, political output and policy. Applying various multilevel regression models, we show that, at the end of the first wave of the pandemic, political trust was positively affected by institutional performance and only partially affected public perceptions and the policy measures taken by governments to contain the spread of the virus.

Finding (dis‐)advantaged system justifiers: A bottom‐up approach to explore system justification theory

AbstractSystem Justification Theory (SJT) postulates that individuals are motivated to justify the status quo, including the paradoxical prediction that those who are disadvantaged (e.g., lower social status) by the prevailing system will justify the system more than those who are advantaged by the prevailing system. We test if this assumption holds in an entire sample, or only among subsets of a sample using a bottom‐up approach, Correlational Class Analysis. Using a representative sample from four European countries (Ntotal = 5157) we found six subpopulations. The first subpopulation (Justifiers, ntotal = 1256; 24%) was consistent with SJT, that is, system justification and social status were negatively correlated. The second subpopulation (Rejectors, ntotal = 1688; 33%), however, was characterized by a positive correlation between social status and system justification, which contrasts with the prediction of system justification theory. The other four subpopulations (Ntotal = 2211; 43%) were characterized by an ambivalent pattern. That is, at least one social status indicator, but not all, supported the prediction that disadvantaged individuals justified the system more than advantaged individuals. These heterogeneous patterns would be undetected using traditional approaches. Further, our results show that inequality salience is lower, trust in political institutions is higher, and support for political violence is higher among Justifiers compared to Rejectors. We discuss how understanding the interrelations between multiple indicators of social status and how they differ between subpopulations can help us to obtain a more comprehensive picture regarding under which circumstances and for whom system justification theory applies.