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Civil Liberties at the Crossroads: Libertarian and Illiberal Attitudes Among Politically Charged Online Groups

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Civil Liberties at the Crossroads: Libertarian and Illiberal Attitudes Among Politically Charged Online Groups Civil liberties at the crossroads: Libertarian and illiberal attitudes among politically charged online groups Angelo Fasce1 and Diego Avendaño2 1 University of Coimbra – [email protected]. 2 University of Pamplona. Pre-print first posted: 04/25/2021 Civil liberties and rights such as freedom of expression, press, thought, religion, association, lifestyle, and equality against the law are being subjected to fierce controversies within the socio-political landscape of Western developed countries. Based on a literature review, we develop two working hypotheses aimed at explaining divergent attitudes toward civil liberties among politically charged online communities on each side of the political spectrum. First, a “libertarian attitude” among rightist groups, in which economic conservatism suppresses the illiberal tendencies of social conservatism and right-wing authoritarianism. Second, a “illiberal attitude” among leftist groups, elicited by the rise of authoritarian forms of social justice-seeking within some influential left- wing ideologies. We report a correlational study using a cross-sectional sample (n = 902), whose results support both hypotheses. Lastly, we discuss these results in relation to polarization over civil liberties and perceived power imbalances between conservatives and liberals. Key words: Civil liberties, authoritarianism, economic conservatism, social justice, feminism. CIVIL LIBERTIES AT THE CROSSROADS 2 Political positions are becoming increasingly partisan and close-minded in Western countries, with people describing their political systems in terms of "Us" versus "Them”, and political parties more internally homogeneous and ideologically distant from each other (Twenge, Honeycutt, Prislin, & Sherman, 2016; McCoy, Rahman, & Somer, 2018). This article aids understanding of endorsement of civil liberties and rights among individuals engaged in leftist and rightist online groups, as previous results suggest that strong political identification makes citizens prone to prefer their electoral choices over democratic principles, thus justifying anti-democratic attitudes within their affinity group (Graham & Svolik, 2020). Based on a literature review, we hypothesize two opposed situations, one for each side of the political spectrum. On one hand, a “libertarian attitude” among right-wing groups elicited by economic conservatism, which would motivate conservatives to increase their support for civil liberties. On the other hand, we hypothesize a “illiberal attitude” among leftist groups, which would lead them to endorse authoritarian agendas at the expense of civil liberties. We report an empirical study using a large cross-sectional sample of Spanish-speaking subjects, recruited from online forums on political issues with distinctive ideological backgrounds. Results support both the libertarian attitudes among conservative groups, mediated by neoliberal ideology, and the illiberal attitudes among leftists, mediated by the acceptance of authoritarian conceptions. Lastly, we discuss our results in relation to the role of civil liberties in explaining the upsurge of culture war in developed Western societies. CIVIL LIBERTIES AT THE CROSSROADS 3 Civil liberties and authoritarianism Within liberalism, the political tradition that shapes contemporary liberal democracies, the development of a country is conceived as a process of expanding people’s freedoms (Sen, 1999). Therefore, states aiming at achieving economic and social development should strive to eliminate major sources of repressive politics, whose removal influences the level of subjective well-being of citizens in a positive way (Bjørnskovm, Dreher, & Fischer, 2010; Nikolova, 2016). This central conception of liberty has given rise to more comprehensive and accurate forms of measuring democracy (Lindberg, Coppedge, Gerring, & Teorell, 2014), focused on a broad category of regulations with various objects of protection, namely civil liberties and rights, which not only guarantee but expand human rights—e.g., regarding physical security, material subsistence, personal liberty, elemental equality, and social recognition (Orend, 2002). Civil liberties play a key role in developed democracies, assuring liberty of expression (including freedom of press, assembly, speech, and protest), freedom to choose one’s lifestyle (including freedom of religion, of conscience, and privacy), and equality rights (such as equal treatment under the law and right to a fair trial; Fenwick, 2007). Civil liberties do not always have an obvious identifiable beneficiary, although they primarily benefit those who are not privileged in society, being largely unnecessary for the existing elite. Accordingly, opposition toward them is typical of dominant groups seeking to control society and political power through authoritarian agendas (Altemeyer, 1998; Mukand & Rodrik, 2020). To illustrate this, a recent study found that both left- wing and right-wing authoritarians endorse illiberal policies intended to mitigate the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, such as restrictions to the rights to protest against the government, to trial by jury, to free press, and to economic liberty (Manson, 2020). As a result, de facto civil liberties protection, resulting in a more inclusive model of political CIVIL LIBERTIES AT THE CROSSROADS 4 citizenship, has been seen to be determined by power imbalances between liberalism and authoritarianism, whether in national contexts or among culturally proximate countries (Lewczuk, 2020). Libertarian attitudes within groups of rightists In line with Feldman and Johnson’s (2013) distinction between social and economic ideology, social and economic conservatism are considered the most prominent ideological trends within contemporary right-wing parties and movements (Johnson & Tamney, 2001; Zumbrunnen & Gangl, 2008, Beattie, Bettache, & Ching Yee Chong, 2019). Both forms of conservatism show striking differences, which make them not only mutually independent, but contradictory in relation to core ideological assumptions (Crowson, 2009; Costello & Lilienfeld, 2020; Fasce & Avendaño, 2020). Social conservatives are prone to interpret political problems in moral terms and to be committed to the preservation of ancient institutions, roles, and traditions, thus being linked to traditionalism, orthodox religiosity, and nationalism. In contrast, economic conservatism primarily promotes laissez-faire capitalism and private enterprise, being opposed to governmental involvement in the private life of citizens, favoring instead unrestricted competition among individuals, market deregulation, free trade between countries, and privatization of public services to reduce public spending. Some authors argue that, despite their differences, the existing alliance between both forms of conservatism would be explicable as social conservatism promotes the preservation of a predictable social structure that assures certainty for investors (Johnson, 2013; Simpson & Laham, 2014; Fasce & Avendaño, 2020). CIVIL LIBERTIES AT THE CROSSROADS 5 Even though economic conservatism and right-wing authoritarianism tend to be positively correlated (Azevedo, Jost, Rothmund, & Sterling, 2019), previous studies have found that social conservatism acts as a confounder variable in the association between both constructs (Everett, 2013; Fasce & Avendaño, 2020; Costello & Lilienfeld, 2020). Indeed, there is theoretical compatibility between being economically conservative and socially liberal, as the liberal values lying at the root of neoliberalism prioritize the need to promote social stability through mutual understanding, individual freedom, and perspective taking between ideological counterparts, considering it the cornerstone of public reason (Van Zomeren, Fischer, & Spears, 2007; Pettigrew & Tropp, 2008; Crowson, 2009; Torcello, 2020)1. In this regard, Costello and Lilienfeld (2020) found that economic conservatism tends to prevent authoritarian attitudes within social conservative agendas, suppressing its positive direct associations with dogmatism, political intolerance, lessened sympathy towards suffering of political opponents, rationalization of harm towards political opponents, preferences for state control, and perceived intergroup threat. Accordingly, the increasingly fundamental search for economic freedom within politically-centered communities of conservatives could have resulted in both a substantial reduction of prejudice toward outgroup members and a heightened acceptance of the open marketplace of ideas and lifestyles (Johnson & Tamney, 2001; Hackett, Gaffney, & Data, 2018). In accordance with the rise of economic conservatism among right-wing parties and movements, and its concomitant liberal values, we hypothesize higher support for civil liberties within online groups of rightists. In this nomological network, represented in 1 Despite the well-documented proneness among economic conservatives to endorse conspiracy theories around climate change (van der Linden, Panagopoulos, Azevedo, & Jost, 2020), recent results suggest that their general disposition to engage in cognitive reflection is particularly optimal (Yilmaz, Saribay, & Iyer, 2020). CIVIL LIBERTIES AT THE CROSSROADS 6 Figure 1, social conservatism would mediate between right-wing authoritarianism and economic conservatism, while economic conservatism would mediate between social conservatism and support for civil liberties. In addition, economic conservatism would suppress the negative association between right-wing
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