Das Gefühl der Benachteiligung drängt die Deutschen nach rechts, die Amerikaner jedoch nach links. Unterschiedliche politische und soziale Strukturen können die unterschiedlichen Ergebnisse erklären. Deutschland verfügt über umfangreiche öffentliche Sozialleistungen. In den USA hingegen sind Forderungen nach einer Linderung der Not durch die Regierung traditionell linksgerichtet.
Feelings of deprivation push Germans to the right but Americans to the left
8 Kommentare
I’ve linked to the press release in the post above. In this comment, for those interested, here’s the link to the peer reviewed journal article:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0191886925002533
From the linked article:
**Feelings of deprivation push Germans to the right but Americans to the left**
A new study suggests that feelings of personal deprivation and an authoritarian personality can combine to predict attraction to far-right politics. However, this psychological dynamic appears to operate differently depending on the national context, pointing toward far-right sympathies in Germany but toward far-left attitudes in the United States. The research was published in the journal Personality and Individual Differences.
The researchers suggest that the **different political and social structures in Germany and the United States may explain the divergent findings**. They point to the differing roles of the welfare state in the two countries. **Germany’s system involves extensive public social benefits**, leading citizens to have high expectations of the state’s role in their well-being. When these expectations are unmet, the resulting dissatisfaction may be channeled by far-right parties that blame the political establishment.
**In the U.S., by contrast, demands for the government to alleviate social and economic hardships are more traditionally associated with left-wing** political platforms. American right-wing ideologies often advocate for a smaller state with less intervention in individual affairs. Consequently, when Americans feel deprived, their appeals for state assistance may align more naturally with left-wing politics.
Left and right are just labels that are applied to wildly different political ideas across the globe.
I’d say it’s related to globalisation rather than material conditions.
The German society would say, but deny, the globalisation needs to work for us otherwise no globalisation at all.
In the US, two party dominant party system relies on capitalism so it’s a de facto one party State. Unless one opts for DSA.
>In the American sample, feelings of generic deprivation did not predict attraction to the far-right.
Somehow I suspect that a subgroup analysis would yield a very different conclusion. The young & right-wing in America are not brought there by a sense of plenty.
„he made us feel German again.“
I suspect in Germany, part of it is a „if I didn’t have to hand over so much of my salary/wage*, I could fix the problem I’m currently having myself, if they can’t use the money responsibly (= something that includes improvement), then they shouldn’t take that much.“
Sorry, if I’m phrasing this awkwardly, please don’t pin me down on the precise phrasing/wording, this is not my native language, I’m trying to convey a vibe.
*(I’m vaguely aware that salary and wage are different in English, or at least in the US, I basically just mean the money you get from working independent of the details.)
Tbh the left and right are not meaningful labels for political affiliations, especially in an inter-country comparison. I understand people want to appeal to readers using popular terms, but in this case there’s hardly any relevance.
Isn’t the low educated and working class America already voting against their best interests and predominantly for the Republicans? They’re right wing and they’ve only been getting more radical and radical.
Nevertheless the simple Left-Right -divide doesn’t take into account the wildly different political fields between America and Europe.
From a European POV, the two American parties are basically economically right, Reps are socially conservative, but I suppose the Dems are somewhat socially liberal.
Due to the American political field being so much „to the right“ in general, the Democratic Party is an umbrella for a way more widely varying group of Americans politically, which is causing issues internally within the party.
But that’s just my two cents, viewing this whole thing from Finland.