Existential insecurity and deference to authority: the pandemic as a natural experiment
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In: Frontiers in Political Science, Vol. 5, 1117550, 19.05.2023.
Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Existential insecurity and deference to authority
T2 - the pandemic as a natural experiment
AU - Foa, Roberto Stefan
AU - Welzel, Christian
N1 - Publisher Copyright: Copyright © 2023 Foa and Welzel.
PY - 2023/5/19
Y1 - 2023/5/19
N2 - Introduction: The global coronavirus pandemic offers a quasi-experimental setting for understanding the impact of sudden exposure to heightened existential risk upon both individual and societal values. Methods: We examined the effect of the pandemic on political attitudes by comparing data from eight countries surveyed before and after the worldwide spread of COVID-19 in March 2020 with continuous weekly polling tracker data from the United Kingdom from 2019 to 2021. Multilevel models were used to explore the drivers of change, and the results indicated that reported emotions of fear and stress were positively associated with institutional approval during periods of greater pathogen risk. Results: Our findings revealed that support for political and technocratic authority, as well as satisfaction with political institutions, rose significantly above long-term historical baselines during the pandemic. Discussion: The results support the hypothesis that exposure to existential risk results in greater support for authority and that individual feelings of insecurity may be linked to less critical citizen orientations.
AB - Introduction: The global coronavirus pandemic offers a quasi-experimental setting for understanding the impact of sudden exposure to heightened existential risk upon both individual and societal values. Methods: We examined the effect of the pandemic on political attitudes by comparing data from eight countries surveyed before and after the worldwide spread of COVID-19 in March 2020 with continuous weekly polling tracker data from the United Kingdom from 2019 to 2021. Multilevel models were used to explore the drivers of change, and the results indicated that reported emotions of fear and stress were positively associated with institutional approval during periods of greater pathogen risk. Results: Our findings revealed that support for political and technocratic authority, as well as satisfaction with political institutions, rose significantly above long-term historical baselines during the pandemic. Discussion: The results support the hypothesis that exposure to existential risk results in greater support for authority and that individual feelings of insecurity may be linked to less critical citizen orientations.
KW - authoritarianism
KW - COVID-19
KW - existential security
KW - pandemic
KW - pathogen risk
KW - populism
KW - Politics
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85161051416&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3389/fpos.2023.1117550
DO - 10.3389/fpos.2023.1117550
M3 - Journal articles
AN - SCOPUS:85161051416
VL - 5
JO - Frontiers in Political Science
JF - Frontiers in Political Science
SN - 2673-3145
M1 - 1117550
ER -