MIÉRT OLYAN SIKERESEK A RADIKÁLIS NEMZETI-POPULISTA PÁRTOK NAGY TÁRSADALMI-GAZDASÁGI ÁTALAKULÁSOK, VÁLSÁGOK IDEJÉN?
Economic crisis, political attitudes and the causes the of rise and fall of extreme rightwing populist parties

Summary/Abstract: During period of economic crisis and hardship a recurring phenomenon is the rise of radical rightwing nationalist and populist parties. Attempts to explain the rapid increase of support for radical rightwing populist parties have often referred to insecure socioeconomic status and fear of social failure. The paper tries to identify how people are actually affected by changes in work and what consequences these changes have on their political attitudes. The most important result of the paper is that there are two psychological routes that may lead from perceived change in the world of work to rightwing extremism. Winners and losers of changes have different sets of attitudes. Winners have strong identifi cation with their job and the perception that some social groups should dominate over others. This, in turn, means strong preference for nationalism, prejudice against out-groups. Losers are experiencing the disruption of their identities, and develop a strong feeling of injustice, preference towards protest, and long for a strong charismatic leader who would reinstate law and order. The extreme rightwing populist parties have the capacity to catch both groups psychologically. In times of economic crisis nationalist and populist messages of these parties could be attractive for both groups of winners and losers of changes. The populist slogans are attractive for losers of changes, who wish to have a new law and order, and nationalistic slogans are attractive for winners of changes, who seek to reinforce the existing law and order. This phenomenon explains why rightwing populist parties are able to attract a broad range of support during periods of economic hardships. On the other hand, the confl icting interests of the voters also mean that this support is very fragile and can be sustained for a relatively short period of time, while the party is in opposition.

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