Premium
Support for radical left ideologies in E urope
Author(s) -
Visser Mark,
Lubbers Marcel,
Kraaykamp Gerbert,
Jaspers Eva
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
european journal of political research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.267
H-Index - 95
eISSN - 1475-6765
pISSN - 0304-4130
DOI - 10.1111/1475-6765.12048
Subject(s) - ideology , authoritarianism , new left , radical right , left behind , demographic economics , inequality , economic inequality , economics , social psychology , political science , sociology , psychology , politics , democracy , law , mathematical analysis , mathematics , mental health , psychotherapist
This article examines support for radical left ideologies in 32 E uropean countries. It thus extends the relatively scant empirical research available in this field. The hypotheses tested are derived mainly from group‐interest theory. Data are deployed from the 2002–2010 E uropean Social Surveys ( N = 174,868), supplemented by characteristics at the country level. The results show that, also in the new millennium, unemployed people and those with a lower income are more likely to support a radical left ideology. This is only partly explained by their stronger opinion that governments should take measures to reduce income differences. In contrast to expectations, the findings show that greater income inequality within a country is associated with reduced likelihood of an individual supporting a radical left ideology. Furthermore, cross‐national differences in the likelihood of supporting the radical left are strongly associated with whether a country has a legacy of an authoritarian regime.