The threat of social decline: income inequality and radical right support

Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

Authors

Income inequality and radical right parties have both been on the rise in Western democracies, yet few studies explore the linkages between the two–despite prominent arguments about voters feeling ‘left behind’. We argue that rising inequality not only intensifies relative deprivation, but also signals a potential threat of social decline, as gaps in the social hierarchy widen. Hence, voters higher up in the social hierarchy may turn to the radical right to defend existing social boundaries. Using International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) data from 14 OECD countries over three decades, we find that rising income inequality increases the likelihood of radical right support–most pronouncedly among individuals with high subjective social status and lower-middle incomes. Adding to evidence that the threat of decline, rather than actual deprivation, pushes voters towards the radical right, we highlight income inequality as the crucial factor conditioning perceived threats from a widening social hierarchy.

Original languageEnglish
JournalJournal of European Public Policy
Volume28
Issue number2
Pages (from-to)153-173
Number of pages21
ISSN1350-1763
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 04.2021
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

This paper was awarded the ‘Best Paper Prize' by the Council for European Studies’ Research Network on Political Economy and Welfare. The Research Network each year offers a Best Paper Prize to a paper presented at the last CES conference.

    Research areas

  • Income inequality, radical right, relative deprivation, social decline, social status
  • Politics

Recently viewed

Publications

  1. Theorien pädagogischer Professionalität
  2. From consumers to pioneers
  3. Portraits, photographs, and politics in the carpet medium
  4. Intensive Recreational Activities in Suburban Forests
  5. Hormonal chaos: The scientific and social origins of the environmental endocrine hypotheses
  6. Introducing VISU
  7. Das Seufzen der Olimpia
  8. The wonderfully organized and mediated endurance of ephemera
  9. Implementing Education for Sustainable Development in teacher education
  10. Nachhaltigkeitsmanagement auf dem Vormarsch
  11. Pollination of apple variaties across Europe: Dependecy on cross pollination and visitor communities
  12. Special Issue 'Communication for and about Sustainability'
  13. Entwicklung eines Messstandes zur automatisierten Messung der radialen Lagerluft von Wälzlagern
  14. Alice in different Wonderlands
  15. Exploring the link between organizational culture and organizational effectiveness
  16. Creativity in entrepreneurship
  17. Stille Wasser sind kalt
  18. Women and the conservation of agroecosystems
  19. Convergence and privatisation in Telecommunications «Regulation of access to limited resources in telecommunications sector in Europe»
  20. Effect of thermal treatment on thermal expansion behaviour of magnesium alloy based hybrid composites
  21. Sustainability Balanced Scorecard
  22. Eltern besser befähigen
  23. Teilhabe an JHWHs Macht
  24. The Singapore Opinion or the End of Mixity as We Know It
  25. Brexit's implications for EU-NATO cooperation
  26. On inhomogeneous Bernoulli convolutions and random power series
  27. DRGs and the Professional Independence of Physicians
  28. Multi-Level Water Governance
  29. Die Honorierung von Umweltleistungen per Ausschreibung
  30. Language Demands of the Labour Market: A Predictor of Students’ Investments into Multilingual Skills?
  31. Climate policy innovation
  32. Evolution, Empowerment, and Emancipation
  33. Legal aspects of ground-based infrastructure for space situational awareness
  34. Ein Königsweg der Hochschulpolitik mit Stolpersteinen
  35. Zulässigkeit eines Blanko-Eigenwechsels als Sicherheit im Verbrauchervertrag und Klage auf Zahlung einer Wechselschuld
  36. Assessing Online Consultation in Participatory Governance