RIGHT-WING IDEOLOGY: POSITIVE (AND NEGATIVE) RELATIONS TO THREAT

Threat has traditionally been conceptualized as a cause or consequence of right-wing ideologies. We argue that the relation is bidirectional and that conceptually pairing right-wing ideologies with threat might be too simplistic and potentially inaccurate. To illustrate a more nuanced perspective, we review recent findings and present data investigating the relations between threat and multiple dimensions of right-wing ideology. Using path analyses SEM, we found that greater right-wing authoritarianism (RWA) predicted perceiving greater latent risk, whereas greater social dominance orientation (SDO) predicted perceiving less latent risk (Study 1); RWA associated with experiencing greater distress, whereas SDO associated with experiencing less distress (when considering the self or others engaging in harmful behaviors; Study 2). Thus, consistent with existing literature, one aspect of right-wing ideology (RWA) relates to greater threat, but another (SDO) relates to experiencing less threat, inconsistent with the long-held assumption that right-wing ideology is tied to greater threat.