Besta, T, Osborne, D, Thomas, E and Palace, M Are anti-migration conspiracy beliefs associated with commitment to (violent) reactionary action and criticism of democracy? Evidence from 21 countries. Communications Psychology. (Accepted)

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Abstract

Despite widespread speculation that conspiracy beliefs foster anti-democratic outcomes, the empirical picture is inconsistent. To clarify this literature, we examine the relationships conspiracy beliefs have with commitment to reactionary action and criticism of democracy, focusing on a global issue: immigration. We expected that people who believe that their government uses immigration to diversify the population against citizens’ wishes (anti-migration conspiracy beliefs) would be more committed to conventional and violent action to oppose immigration, and more critical of democracy. However, societal-level factors – economic performance and democratic functioning – were expected to qualify these links. As hypothesized, multi-level analyses (N = 4353) from 21 countries revealed that economic prosperity attenuated the positive link between anti-migration conspiracy beliefs and commitment to reactionary action. Paradoxically, more democratic societies evidenced stronger links between conspiracy beliefs and conventional (but not violent) action to oppose immigration. Thus, more democratic societies appear to invite conventional forms of action to oppose immigration which may, in turn, weaken democratic norms of inclusion. Results highlight the interplay of individual- and societal-level factors underlying illiberal movements.

Item Type:	Article
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology
Divisions:	Psychology (from Sep 2019)
Publisher:	Nature Research
SWORD Depositor:	A Symplectic
Date Deposited:	03 Apr 2025 09:16
Last Modified:	03 Apr 2025 09:16
URI:	https://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/id/eprint/26076

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