The Economic Roots of Support for Authoritarian Populism in the U.S.

• In Event: Economic Policy Preferences

Abstract

Right wing populism and authoritarianism are a growing force in a number of liberal democracies, including the U.S. Many studies consider whether economic or social conditions give rise to populist authoritarianism, but these two sets of factors feed into one another. We argue that changing economic conditions and resulting rise in status of women are an important factor contributing to the rise of populism and authoritarianism in the U.S., and perhaps beyond. Specifically, following deindustrialization in the 1970s and 1980’s and the shift to the “Knowledge Economy” certain geographic areas have experienced steep economic declines while others ascended rapidly. But the shift to the knowledge economy has not treated everyone equally. Males have been particularly hard hit because they disproportionately worked in manufacturing and related industries, and have fallen behind in educational attainment compared to American women over the past several decades. This has led to large gender imbalances in some parts of the country—resulting in an increase in single men. Beyond just economic status, this declining social status among previously higher status males breeds resentment and reinforces racism, nativism and sexism, creating fertile ground for populist and authoritarian political entrepreneurs. We test this theory using Census demographic and election return data, and restricted access ANES survey data which allows us to explore how changing economic conditions are associated with political, cultural and social attitudes.

Authors

• Stan Nguyen Oklobdzija, Tulane University

• Christopher M. Witko, Pennsylvania State University