Dom Perignon v. Miller Lite: Explaining Anti-Elite Attitudes in Individuals in Europe

Presenter and Advisor Information

Zoe Bouras, Illinois Wesleyan University

Submission Type

Event

Faculty Advisor

Kathleen Montgomery

Expected Graduation Date

2018

Location

Room E105, Center for Natural Sciences, Illinois Wesleyan University

Start Date

4-21-2018 10:00 AM

End Date

4-21-2018 11:00 AM

Disciplines

Education

Abstract

Globally, as right-wing populism has gained a stronger footing, so have the ideas that right-wing populists support. Developed democracies are exhibiting high levels of political distrust and anti-elite sentiment, which poses a serious threat to the health of democracy and existing political systems. Despite the system-level trends that contribute to anti-elitism, there remain variations in individual anti-elite sentiment. Two broad schools of thought suggest explanations. One school suggests that the way an individual perceives and responds to their economic situation leads to anti-elite sentiment, the other contends that anti-elite sentiment has risen as a reactionary undercurrent to the “silent revolution” of the last half of the 20th Century. Using Round 7 of the European Social Survey (ESS), this research investigates a third approach which brings together insights of the cultural and economic explanations, the “left-behind” hypothesis, which finds that those who perceive themselves as “left-behind” by economic and cultural trends express stronger anti-elite sentiments than even the poorest “losers of globalization,” or the most traditionally conservative.

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Apr 21st, 10:00 AM Apr 21st, 11:00 AM

Dom Perignon v. Miller Lite: Explaining Anti-Elite Attitudes in Individuals in Europe

Room E105, Center for Natural Sciences, Illinois Wesleyan University

Globally, as right-wing populism has gained a stronger footing, so have the ideas that right-wing populists support. Developed democracies are exhibiting high levels of political distrust and anti-elite sentiment, which poses a serious threat to the health of democracy and existing political systems. Despite the system-level trends that contribute to anti-elitism, there remain variations in individual anti-elite sentiment. Two broad schools of thought suggest explanations. One school suggests that the way an individual perceives and responds to their economic situation leads to anti-elite sentiment, the other contends that anti-elite sentiment has risen as a reactionary undercurrent to the “silent revolution” of the last half of the 20th Century. Using Round 7 of the European Social Survey (ESS), this research investigates a third approach which brings together insights of the cultural and economic explanations, the “left-behind” hypothesis, which finds that those who perceive themselves as “left-behind” by economic and cultural trends express stronger anti-elite sentiments than even the poorest “losers of globalization,” or the most traditionally conservative.