Pub Date : 2024-02-05DOI: 10.1177/14789299231225403
Seongcheol Kim, A. Mondon
This article undertakes a critique of the attitudes approach to populism, predicated on survey-based operationalisations of populism as a set of attitudes. Our critique is threefold: first, the move of reducing ‘the elite’ to ‘the politicians’ in survey items – beginning with the foundational Akkerman scale – is at odds with the constructivist underpinnings of Mudde’s ideational definition that this literature largely draws on, where ‘the people’ and ‘the elite’ are understood as contingent constructions that can take on a wide range of meanings depending on the ideological permutation. Second, our corpus linguistics-based overview of empirical patterns within the ‘populist attitudes’ literature indicates a skewed focus on the far right within this literature, contrary to the ideological variability of populism following the ideational definition. Third, the reliance on public opinion surveys points to the danger of reifying public opinion and attributing objective qualities to ‘the people’ as such. In assuming categories such as ‘the elite’ to stand for determinate referents such as ‘the politicians’ in survey-based operationalisations, the positivist bias of the attitudes approach paradoxically mirrors the objectivist bias (following Sartori) of early populism research that reduced the identity of ‘the people’ in populism to determinate socio-structural categories such as the peasantry.
{"title":"From Objectivist Bias to Positivist Bias: A Constructivist Critique of the Attitudes Approach to Populism","authors":"Seongcheol Kim, A. Mondon","doi":"10.1177/14789299231225403","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/14789299231225403","url":null,"abstract":"This article undertakes a critique of the attitudes approach to populism, predicated on survey-based operationalisations of populism as a set of attitudes. Our critique is threefold: first, the move of reducing ‘the elite’ to ‘the politicians’ in survey items – beginning with the foundational Akkerman scale – is at odds with the constructivist underpinnings of Mudde’s ideational definition that this literature largely draws on, where ‘the people’ and ‘the elite’ are understood as contingent constructions that can take on a wide range of meanings depending on the ideological permutation. Second, our corpus linguistics-based overview of empirical patterns within the ‘populist attitudes’ literature indicates a skewed focus on the far right within this literature, contrary to the ideological variability of populism following the ideational definition. Third, the reliance on public opinion surveys points to the danger of reifying public opinion and attributing objective qualities to ‘the people’ as such. In assuming categories such as ‘the elite’ to stand for determinate referents such as ‘the politicians’ in survey-based operationalisations, the positivist bias of the attitudes approach paradoxically mirrors the objectivist bias (following Sartori) of early populism research that reduced the identity of ‘the people’ in populism to determinate socio-structural categories such as the peasantry.","PeriodicalId":46813,"journal":{"name":"Political Studies Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2024-02-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139863338","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-02-05DOI: 10.1177/14789299231225403
Seongcheol Kim, A. Mondon
This article undertakes a critique of the attitudes approach to populism, predicated on survey-based operationalisations of populism as a set of attitudes. Our critique is threefold: first, the move of reducing ‘the elite’ to ‘the politicians’ in survey items – beginning with the foundational Akkerman scale – is at odds with the constructivist underpinnings of Mudde’s ideational definition that this literature largely draws on, where ‘the people’ and ‘the elite’ are understood as contingent constructions that can take on a wide range of meanings depending on the ideological permutation. Second, our corpus linguistics-based overview of empirical patterns within the ‘populist attitudes’ literature indicates a skewed focus on the far right within this literature, contrary to the ideological variability of populism following the ideational definition. Third, the reliance on public opinion surveys points to the danger of reifying public opinion and attributing objective qualities to ‘the people’ as such. In assuming categories such as ‘the elite’ to stand for determinate referents such as ‘the politicians’ in survey-based operationalisations, the positivist bias of the attitudes approach paradoxically mirrors the objectivist bias (following Sartori) of early populism research that reduced the identity of ‘the people’ in populism to determinate socio-structural categories such as the peasantry.
{"title":"From Objectivist Bias to Positivist Bias: A Constructivist Critique of the Attitudes Approach to Populism","authors":"Seongcheol Kim, A. Mondon","doi":"10.1177/14789299231225403","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/14789299231225403","url":null,"abstract":"This article undertakes a critique of the attitudes approach to populism, predicated on survey-based operationalisations of populism as a set of attitudes. Our critique is threefold: first, the move of reducing ‘the elite’ to ‘the politicians’ in survey items – beginning with the foundational Akkerman scale – is at odds with the constructivist underpinnings of Mudde’s ideational definition that this literature largely draws on, where ‘the people’ and ‘the elite’ are understood as contingent constructions that can take on a wide range of meanings depending on the ideological permutation. Second, our corpus linguistics-based overview of empirical patterns within the ‘populist attitudes’ literature indicates a skewed focus on the far right within this literature, contrary to the ideological variability of populism following the ideational definition. Third, the reliance on public opinion surveys points to the danger of reifying public opinion and attributing objective qualities to ‘the people’ as such. In assuming categories such as ‘the elite’ to stand for determinate referents such as ‘the politicians’ in survey-based operationalisations, the positivist bias of the attitudes approach paradoxically mirrors the objectivist bias (following Sartori) of early populism research that reduced the identity of ‘the people’ in populism to determinate socio-structural categories such as the peasantry.","PeriodicalId":46813,"journal":{"name":"Political Studies Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2024-02-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139803633","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-01-31DOI: 10.1177/14789299241227781
Petar Bankov
{"title":"Commissioned Book Review: Giorgos Venizelos, Populism in Power: Discourse and Performativity in SYRIZA and Donald Trump","authors":"Petar Bankov","doi":"10.1177/14789299241227781","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/14789299241227781","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":46813,"journal":{"name":"Political Studies Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2024-01-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140473919","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-01-29DOI: 10.1177/14789299241226612
Jorge Garcia-Arias
{"title":"Commissioned Book Review: Philip Fehling, Hans-Jürgen Burchardt, Taxation and Inequality in Latin America: New Perspectives on Political Economy and Tax Regimes","authors":"Jorge Garcia-Arias","doi":"10.1177/14789299241226612","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/14789299241226612","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":46813,"journal":{"name":"Political Studies Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2024-01-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140486285","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-01-29DOI: 10.1177/14789299241228090
Laura Montecchio
{"title":"Commissioned Book Review: Marianna Griffini, The Politics of Memory in the Italian Populist Radical Right. From Mare Nostrum to Mare Vostrum","authors":"Laura Montecchio","doi":"10.1177/14789299241228090","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/14789299241228090","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":46813,"journal":{"name":"Political Studies Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2024-01-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140486723","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-01-27DOI: 10.1177/14789299241227784
Nazar Syvak
{"title":"Commissioned Book Review: Tobias Cremer, The Godless Crusade: Religion, Populism and Right-Wing Identity Politics in the West","authors":"Nazar Syvak","doi":"10.1177/14789299241227784","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/14789299241227784","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":46813,"journal":{"name":"Political Studies Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2024-01-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140491967","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-01-27DOI: 10.1177/14789299241227785
Z. Nagy
{"title":"Commissioned Book Review: Emily B Finley, The Ideology of Democratism","authors":"Z. Nagy","doi":"10.1177/14789299241227785","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/14789299241227785","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":46813,"journal":{"name":"Political Studies Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2024-01-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140492047","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-01-27DOI: 10.1177/14789299241226616
M. Debus, Noam Himmelrath
Candidate selection within parties is a key stage in the political process and provides an important frame for the degree of representation of social groups in parliaments. We seek to develop a better understanding of the effect of intersectionality on candidate selection processes. We do so by examining the effect of candidates’ key socio-demographic characteristics, like their gender and ethnic background, on their chances of getting nominated by their party. We argue that features of the ideological background of the respective nominating party matter for the chances that women and aspirants with an ethnic background win the nomination as their party’s district candidate. We make use of novel data from the 2021 German federal election that provides detailed information on the candidate selection processes of all major parties in the 299 election districts. By doing so, we apply existing theoretical expectations to an untested case and find that female competitors and aspirants with an ethnic background face difficulties being nominated, in particular in the case of parties with rather traditionalist societal policy positions. We also find that intersectionality matters: female aspirants of ethnic minorities are even less likely to be nominated by ideologically traditional parties.
{"title":"Who Runs in the End? New Evidence on the Effects of Gender, Ethnicity and Intersectionality on Candidate Selection","authors":"M. Debus, Noam Himmelrath","doi":"10.1177/14789299241226616","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/14789299241226616","url":null,"abstract":"Candidate selection within parties is a key stage in the political process and provides an important frame for the degree of representation of social groups in parliaments. We seek to develop a better understanding of the effect of intersectionality on candidate selection processes. We do so by examining the effect of candidates’ key socio-demographic characteristics, like their gender and ethnic background, on their chances of getting nominated by their party. We argue that features of the ideological background of the respective nominating party matter for the chances that women and aspirants with an ethnic background win the nomination as their party’s district candidate. We make use of novel data from the 2021 German federal election that provides detailed information on the candidate selection processes of all major parties in the 299 election districts. By doing so, we apply existing theoretical expectations to an untested case and find that female competitors and aspirants with an ethnic background face difficulties being nominated, in particular in the case of parties with rather traditionalist societal policy positions. We also find that intersectionality matters: female aspirants of ethnic minorities are even less likely to be nominated by ideologically traditional parties.","PeriodicalId":46813,"journal":{"name":"Political Studies Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2024-01-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140492775","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-01-25DOI: 10.1177/14789299231222847
Barbara Vis
Political elites—like ministers or members of parliament—face numerous phenomena that are characterized by uncertainty. Uncertainty ranges from resolvable to radical, whereby the former can be removed with more or better information, but radical uncertainty cannot. Remarkably, little is known about political elites’ responses to such phenomena, both theoretically (what responses are likely?) and empirically (which responses do political elites display?). This “New Ideas” contribution addresses the theoretical lacuna by presenting a multidisciplinary conceptual map of possible responses to radical and resolvable uncertainty. These responses influence political elites’ effectiveness in solving problems and, thus, how representative democracies function. The article also sketches how to identify the responses empirically.
{"title":"Introducing a Conceptual Map of Political Elites’ Responses to Different Types of Uncertain Phenomena","authors":"Barbara Vis","doi":"10.1177/14789299231222847","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/14789299231222847","url":null,"abstract":"Political elites—like ministers or members of parliament—face numerous phenomena that are characterized by uncertainty. Uncertainty ranges from resolvable to radical, whereby the former can be removed with more or better information, but radical uncertainty cannot. Remarkably, little is known about political elites’ responses to such phenomena, both theoretically (what responses are likely?) and empirically (which responses do political elites display?). This “New Ideas” contribution addresses the theoretical lacuna by presenting a multidisciplinary conceptual map of possible responses to radical and resolvable uncertainty. These responses influence political elites’ effectiveness in solving problems and, thus, how representative democracies function. The article also sketches how to identify the responses empirically.","PeriodicalId":46813,"journal":{"name":"Political Studies Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2024-01-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139597065","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-01-19DOI: 10.1177/14789299231225401
Wen-Chun Chang
Religion is considered to have different aspects of influences on political protest, and some have argued that religious participation often mobilizes collective political actions by enhancing individuals’ civic skills and political efficacy. By contrast, religious values and beliefs that emphasize the importance of traditional norms and conformity tend to reduce individuals’ propensities to participate in political protest. The influences of religion on individuals’ attitudes toward coping with injustice and unfairness can be critical for explaining their propensities to participate in political protest. Using data from the fourth wave of the Asian Barometer Survey, this study investigates the role of perceived unfairness in shaping the link between religion and political protest in 13 East Asian countries. In accordance with the arguments of mobilizing and conforming effects, we find that religious attendance increases individuals’ propensities to engage in political protest, while religiosity has a negative effect on political protest. In particular, the results show that the perceived unfairness of income distribution mediates the indirect effects of religion on political protest. They also present that religious affiliations mitigate perceived unfairness and indirectly reduce individuals’ propensities to participate in political protest. Nevertheless, the direct effects of religious attendance on mobilizing political protest are stronger.
{"title":"Religion, Perceived Unfairness, and Political Protest: Empirical Evidence From East Asian Countries","authors":"Wen-Chun Chang","doi":"10.1177/14789299231225401","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/14789299231225401","url":null,"abstract":"Religion is considered to have different aspects of influences on political protest, and some have argued that religious participation often mobilizes collective political actions by enhancing individuals’ civic skills and political efficacy. By contrast, religious values and beliefs that emphasize the importance of traditional norms and conformity tend to reduce individuals’ propensities to participate in political protest. The influences of religion on individuals’ attitudes toward coping with injustice and unfairness can be critical for explaining their propensities to participate in political protest. Using data from the fourth wave of the Asian Barometer Survey, this study investigates the role of perceived unfairness in shaping the link between religion and political protest in 13 East Asian countries. In accordance with the arguments of mobilizing and conforming effects, we find that religious attendance increases individuals’ propensities to engage in political protest, while religiosity has a negative effect on political protest. In particular, the results show that the perceived unfairness of income distribution mediates the indirect effects of religion on political protest. They also present that religious affiliations mitigate perceived unfairness and indirectly reduce individuals’ propensities to participate in political protest. Nevertheless, the direct effects of religious attendance on mobilizing political protest are stronger.","PeriodicalId":46813,"journal":{"name":"Political Studies Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2024-01-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139612516","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}