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- Title
White Racial Identity and Its Link to Support for Far-Right Groups: A Test of a Social Psychological Model.
- Authors
Grindal, Matthew; Haltinner, Kristin
- Abstract
Prior research indicates that far-right political groups tend to be disproportionately composed of and supported by white people. Drawing off the group identity and developmental literature, we add theoretical clarity to this relationship. We argue that a salient white racial identity motivates people to explore social contexts that affirm the value of being white. Many of these contexts (e.g., conservative media) reinforce and instill beliefs in conspiracies, perceptions of racial threat, and a legitimization of group hierarchies, which are defining features of far-right ideologies. As people develop a strong white racial identity, they should thus view far-right groups more favorably. Drawing off survey data from a national US sample of 903 white young adults, we tested a mediation model positing that the effects of a strong white racial identity with support for four far-right groups (the January 6 protesters, QAnon, the Proud Boys, and the Oath Keepers) would be mediated by enhanced levels of conspiratorial ideation, perceived racial threat, and social dominance orientation. We found that the effects of white racial identity with support for all four groups were mostly or completely accounted for by these three mediating factors. We discuss the implications of this research for the racial identity and far-right groups literatures.
- Subjects
RACIAL identity of white people; OATH Keepers (Organization); PROUD Boys; RIGHT-wing extremists; PSYCHOLOGICAL tests; SOCIAL dominance; CONSPIRACY theories; RACIAL identity of African Americans; RACE identity; GROUP identity
- Publication
Social Sciences (2076-0760), 2023, Vol 12, Issue 7, p369
- ISSN
2076-0760
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.3390/socsci12070369