(iPoster) The Role of Resentment in Repression

• In Event: Poster Sessions: Protest, Repression, and Democratic Erosion & Peacebuilding, Conflict Resolution, and Post-Conflict Politics
  In Poster Session: Poster Session: Protest, Repression, and Democratic Erosion

Abstract

Who supports government repression in liberal democracies, and why? Scholars have explored this question in specific national security contexts, such as the use of torture to preempt terror attacks, finding that some people—at least in certain circumstances—endorse government abuses. This challenges a key assumption of the Domestic Democratic Peace theory: that people in democratic polities will punish leaders for abusive behavior—an assumption that helps explain why democracies repress less often than non-democracies. Yet, this obscures important nuances in public preferences: while some members of the public may punish repressive leaders, others may prefer and even reward those who “dirty their hands.” We seek to explain this variation. Building on literature from peace science, American politics, and social psychology, we argue that perceptions of group status and patterns of resentment are key. Specifically, we theorize that shifts in a polity’s political, economic, and social equilibria create groups that fear losing relative power, fostering resentment toward perceived rivals. We hypothesize that individuals experiencing heightened resentment are more likely to support repression against groups they view as threats. Using a nationally representative sample of American adults, we test this hypothesis by measuring support for repressive policies in response to dissent. We find that resentment toward non-white people predicts greater support for the repression of Black Lives Matter protests, which directly challenged the racial status quo. In contrast, this resentment does not predict support for repression of the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot—an event perceived by many as an effort to preserve existing hierarchies.

Authors

• Ryan M. Welch, University of Florida

• Jack M Mewhirter, University of Tennessee, Knoxville

• Rebecca Sanders, University of Cincinnati