Nostalgic Deprivation in the United States and Britain
CPSXXX10.1177/0010414017720705Comparative Political StudiesGest et al. 720705research-article2017 Article Comparative Political Studies 1 –26 Roots of the Radical © The Author(s) 2017 Reprints and permissions: Right: Nostalgic sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav https://doi.org/10.1177/0010414017720705DOI: 10.1177/0010414017720705 Deprivation in the journals.sagepub.com/home/cps United States and Britain Justin Gest1, Tyler Reny2, and Jeremy Mayer1 Abstract Following trends in Europe over the past decade, support for the Radical Right has recently grown more significant in the United States and the United Kingdom. While the United Kingdom has witnessed the rise of Radical Right fringe groups, the United States’ political spectrum has been altered by the Tea Party and the election of Donald Trump. This article asks what predicts White individuals’ support for such groups. In original, representative surveys of White individuals in Great Britain and the United States, we use an innovative technique to measure subjective social, political, and economic status that captures individuals’ perceptions of increasing or decreasing deprivation over time. We then analyze the impact of these deprivation measures on support for the Radical Right among Republicans (Conservatives), Democrats (Labourites), and Independents. We show that nostalgic deprivation among White respondents drives support for the Radical Right in the United Kingdom and the United States. Keywords race, class, working class, radical right, inequality, political behavior, elections, voting, immigration 1George Mason University, Arlington, VA, USA 2University of California, Los Angeles, USA Corresponding Author: Justin Gest, Assistant Professor of Public Policy, Schar School of Policy and Government, George Mason University, 3351 Fairfax Drive, Arlington, VA 22201, USA.
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