Political psychology perspectives on populism

The book explores various forms of populism in European countries. Its innovative reading reveals psychosocial processes and dynamics that are, in many cases, generalisable to other cultural and social contexts. Starting from a theoretical point of view, the authors outline the psychosocial precursors of populisms that emerge from empirical investigations. Using both traditional and critical perspectives, the book shows how political psychology has attempted to answer the many questions prompted by the spread of populism in contemporary representative democracies. The authors analyse the opinions, attitudes, motivations, and representations of laypeople and populist leaders through questionnaires and analyses of political communication via social media. They examine the psychosocial factors that define left-wing and right-wing populisms; the relationship between these factors and authoritarianism, personality characteristics and tendencies to system justification; the characterisation of the populist mentality and the relationship between majorities and minorities deriving from ingroup-outgroup conflicts; the motivational needs that precede populism; the conspiracy theories that accompany it; the possible redefinition of populist ideologies; different populist leadership styles; populist communication via social media; the representation of right-wing populist women leaders online; and populism’s interaction with uncertainty related to war and the pandemic. The book provides new insights to researchers, students, commentators and policymakers, as well as other readers interested in populism and political psychology.