Gender equality salience, backlash and radical right voting in the gender-equal context of Sweden
Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review
Standard
In: West European Politics, Vol. 46, No. 3, 2023, p. 451-476.
Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review
Harvard
APA
Vancouver
Bibtex
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
T1 - Gender equality salience, backlash and radical right voting in the gender-equal context of Sweden
AU - Off, Gefjon
N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2022 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
PY - 2023
Y1 - 2023
N2 - Cultural backlash research explains voting for populist radical right (PRR) parties mostly by socioeconomic factors and anti-immigration attitudes, neglecting the role of gender values. This study addresses this gap by arguing that gender issue salience triggers backlash against liberalising gender values, resulting in PRR votes by people with conservative gender values. This is tested in the gender-equal context of Sweden by analysing national elections data from 2014 to 2018, comparing voting behaviour before and after a period marked by strong gender issue salience. The study demonstrates that (a) the gap between conservatives’ and liberals’ gender values widens, and (b) conservative gender values predict PRR voting in Sweden in 2018 but not in 2014. These findings suggest that salience of liberalising gender values may trigger backlash, which in turn fuels PRR voting.
AB - Cultural backlash research explains voting for populist radical right (PRR) parties mostly by socioeconomic factors and anti-immigration attitudes, neglecting the role of gender values. This study addresses this gap by arguing that gender issue salience triggers backlash against liberalising gender values, resulting in PRR votes by people with conservative gender values. This is tested in the gender-equal context of Sweden by analysing national elections data from 2014 to 2018, comparing voting behaviour before and after a period marked by strong gender issue salience. The study demonstrates that (a) the gap between conservatives’ and liberals’ gender values widens, and (b) conservative gender values predict PRR voting in Sweden in 2018 but not in 2014. These findings suggest that salience of liberalising gender values may trigger backlash, which in turn fuels PRR voting.
KW - cultural backlash
KW - gender values
KW - issue salience
KW - Populist radical right voting
KW - Sweden
KW - Politics
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85132841122&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/01402382.2022.2084986
DO - 10.1080/01402382.2022.2084986
M3 - Journal articles
AN - SCOPUS:85132841122
VL - 46
SP - 451
EP - 476
JO - West European Politics
JF - West European Politics
SN - 0140-2382
IS - 3
ER -