The Authoritarian Dynamic During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Effects on Nationalism and Anti-Immigrant Sentiment

Research has demonstrated that situational factors such as perceived threats to the social order activate latent authoritarianism. The deadly COVID-19 pandemic presents a rare opportunity to test whether existential threat stemming from an indiscriminate virus moderates the relationship between auth...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Social psychological & personality science 2021-09, Vol.12 (7), p.1274-1285
Main Authors: Hartman, Todd K., Stocks, Thomas V. A., McKay, Ryan, Gibson-Miller, Jilly, Levita, Liat, Martinez, Anton P., Mason, Liam, McBride, Orla, Murphy, Jamie, Shevlin, Mark, Bennett, Kate M., Hyland, Philip, Karatzias, Thanos, Vallières, Frédérique, Bentall, Richard P.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Authoritarianism
Coronaviruses
COVID-19
Group identity
Immigrants
Nationalism
Noncitizens
Pandemics
Political attitudes
Right wing politics
Situation
Situational factors
Social order
Threats
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Research has demonstrated that situational factors such as perceived threats to the social order activate latent authoritarianism. The deadly COVID-19 pandemic presents a rare opportunity to test whether existential threat stemming from an indiscriminate virus moderates the relationship between authoritarianism and political attitudes toward the nation and out-groups. Using data from two large nationally representative samples of adults in the United Kingdom (N = 2,025) and Republic of Ireland (N = 1,041) collected during the initial phases of strict lockdown measures in both countries, we find that the associations between right-wing authoritarianism (RWA) and (1) nationalism and (2) anti-immigrant attitudes are conditional on levels of perceived threat. As anxiety about the COVID-19 pandemic increases, so too does the effect of RWA on those political outcomes. Thus, it appears that existential threats to humanity from the COVID-19 pandemic moderate expressions of authoritarianism in society.
ISSN:1948-5506
1948-5514
DOI:10.1177/1948550620978023