LEI_F_06 Cultural and Socioeconomic Divisions and Right-wing Populism in Germany

Objectives/ Research Questions

This project is an empirical-analytical contribution to the question of a threatened social cohesion in Germany. The subject of the investigation are the motives of voting for the right-wing populist party Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), which are tested through hypotheses about political-cultural and economic divisions in the German population using data from the RISC survey. A special focus lies on the political behaviour of people in East Germany. Moreover, it is investigated why men tend to identify more with populist parties than women.

Questions and hypotheses:

1. In the debate about a division of the German society into cosmopolitans and communitarians, there are two opposing value-based conceptions of societies: a closed, traditional and an open, libertarian world view. The dimensions of these world views are, among others, the attitudes toward multiculturalism, authoritarianism, universalism of rights, international multilateralism and solidarity, gender roles and family norms, homosexuality, and climate change (in cooperation with LEI_F_07, LEI_F_08, FRA_F_02, BIE_F_04, and JEN_F_01).
2. The effects of these world views are being investigated as causes of the attitude towards populism, liberal-representative democracy, and the intention of voting for a (right-wing) populist party (in cooperation with FRA_F_04). Moreover, the effects of a socioeconomic divide between losers and winners of modernization are being investigated.
3. It is assumed that in East Germany, a higher approval of a closed, traditional world view is found. Subjective factors like a perceived lack of recognition of one’s own reference group (i.e. lower representation in leading positions) and subjective deprivation in comparison to West Germany are mediating factors affecting the relation between the world view and political attitudes/behaviours in East Germany (in cooperation with LEI_F_03, BIE_F_04, and BIE_F_05).
4. It will be tested whether the share of men who identify with right-wing populist positions is higher in single households and heterosexual relationships in which the partner holds a closed, traditional world view or is indifferent (in cooperation with FRA_F_02).

Variables

Value-based indicators for the closed, traditional and open, libertarian world views (new instrument), openness for populism (new instrument), attitudes toward democracy, politics and voting intention/party identification, relative deprivation (new instrument), and sociodemographic indicators. Data basis: RISC social cohesion survey (conducted by German Institute for Economic Research [DIW]–Socio-Economic Panel [SOEP] and Kantar München).

Thematic relation to social cohesion

The project is directly connected to the main topic of RISC. There is an extensive public and scientific debate about the causes for the success of right-wing populism in Germany, especially in East Germany. This success is seen as an indicator of weakened social cohesion. The project is empirically-analytically investigating social cohesion on the basis of an empirical reconstruction of the two value-based world views. Moreover, the project is showing to what extent the support for right-wing populist parties is a consequence of this cultural divide. Questions of the extent of immigration, perceptions of multi- or monoculturalism, recognition of non-heterosexual relationships, the scope of gender equality, and attitudes toward climate change are all affecting the core concept of how people want to live together. Therefore, the project is built up as a long-term observation of the population. In this way, the project can make an important contribution to the diagnosis of long-term change in the value-based cohesion. One part of the project aims to analyse the extent of social integration of people within East Germany as well as within the whole population; another part is centred around the field of empirical gender studies.