Type
Text
Type
Dissertation
Advisor
Huddy, Leonie | Feldman, Stanley | Steinwand, Martin | Barreto, Matt.
Date
2015-12-01
Keywords
Authoritarianism, Ideology, Political Behavior, Protest | Political science
Department
Department of Political Science.
Language
en_US
Source
This work is sponsored by the Stony Brook University Graduate School in compliance with the requirements for completion of degree.
Identifier
http://hdl.handle.net/11401/76764
Publisher
The Graduate School, Stony Brook University: Stony Brook, NY.
Format
application/pdf
Abstract
There is a long-standing ideological asymmetry in protest activity that is observed world-wide. Individuals on the left are far more likely to engage in protest activity than those on the right. This asymmetry is especially important in an era in which young people are far more likely than their elders to engage in various forms of protest and non-electoral activity. But somewhat surprisingly, there has been no careful investigation of this asymmetry to date, a deficiency which I remedy in my dissertation project. I argue that authoritarians, who are more commonly found on the political right than left, help to explain ideological asymmetries in protest participation and unconventional political activism. Authoritarians tend to be submissive to authorities they see as legitimate and abhor social deviance, factors that make their participation in protest unlikely. I use two major methodological strategies to verify my prediction: 1) quantitative analyses of multiple nationally representative surveys, spanning the years of 2000 to 2012, and 2) experimental methods using individuals sampled from Amazon’s Mechanical Turk, political blog readerships, and undergraduate student populations. I find that while it is inherently more difficult to mobilize conservatives than liberals, authoritarianism exhibits stronger effects on suppressing protest participation on the left of the political spectrum, where more opportunities for protest exist. I further document the conditions that affect conservative’s protest activity, including activity that challenges existing authorities, and behavior that might be considered unlawful or socially deviant. I also examine less common conditions that can facilitate the mobilization of conservatives for unconventional political activities, with perceived illegitimacy of political leaders being particularly important. Overall, my findings hold important implications for democratic theory: Greater protest activity on the left than right affects whose voices are heard by legislators and the public at large, often shaping public policy and discourse. | There is a long-standing ideological asymmetry in protest activity that is observed world-wide. Individuals on the left are far more likely to engage in protest activity than those on the right. This asymmetry is especially important in an era in which young people are far more likely than their elders to engage in various forms of protest and non-electoral activity. But somewhat surprisingly, there has been no careful investigation of this asymmetry to date, a deficiency which I remedy in my dissertation project. I argue that authoritarians, who are more commonly found on the political right than left, help to explain ideological asymmetries in protest participation and unconventional political activism. Authoritarians tend to be submissive to authorities they see as legitimate and abhor social deviance, factors that make their participation in protest unlikely. I use two major methodological strategies to verify my prediction: 1) quantitative analyses of multiple nationally representative surveys, spanning the years of 2000 to 2012, and 2) experimental methods using individuals sampled from Amazon’s Mechanical Turk, political blog readerships, and undergraduate student populations. I find that while it is inherently more difficult to mobilize conservatives than liberals, authoritarianism exhibits stronger effects on suppressing protest participation on the left of the political spectrum, where more opportunities for protest exist. I further document the conditions that affect conservative’s protest activity, including activity that challenges existing authorities, and behavior that might be considered unlawful or socially deviant. I also examine less common conditions that can facilitate the mobilization of conservatives for unconventional political activities, with perceived illegitimacy of political leaders being particularly important. Overall, my findings hold important implications for democratic theory: Greater protest activity on the left than right affects whose voices are heard by legislators and the public at large, often shaping public policy and discourse. | 142 pages
Recommended Citation
Gutting, Raynee Sarah, "Ideological Asymmetries in Unconventional Political Participation" (2015). Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions). 2642.
https://commons.library.stonybrook.edu/stony-brook-theses-and-dissertations-collection/2642