Redistribution and/or Reaction? Global Left and Right Populist Opinion after the Crisis

• In Event: 1432 - Open Topic on Political Sociology

Abstract

The last decade has seen a variety of populist movements and regimes of both the left and right, which commentators widely perceived as fueled by spiraling inequalities and the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis. Drawing on World Value Survey data in 61 countries across the globe, this paper asks: can we discern this post-2008 populist moment in global public opinion? And where and among whom are “left populist” and “right populist” opinions most prevalent? Defining populism as support for greater income equality, and differentiating left and right populism by the latter’s intolerance and nativism, we examine how the proportion of each position changed globally following the financial crisis, as well as what kinds of individuals were more likely to become populists generally and right populists specifically. We find that support for economic redistribution increased globally following the 2008 financial crisis, propelling left and right populist opinions at the expense of traditional liberal and conservative positions. While left populism showed stronger gains, right populism remained prevalent in the post-crisis period. We further find that populism in general and right populism in particular were significantly associated, in various ways, with age, gender, marital status, education, employment status, financial satisfaction, support for democracy, and organizational memberships. Our findings illuminate the contours of an unfolding struggle between left and right forces on the terrain of economic redistribution, and suggest the utility of a neo-Gramscian approach to contemporary populisms.

Authors

• Marcel Paret, University of Utah

• Michael Levien, Johns Hopkins University