Divergence over conformity: Change in immigration attitudes after the electoral success of an anti‐immigration populist party in the Finnish 2015 parliamentary elections

Abstract

The populist, anti-immigration-oriented Finns Party was considered the winner of the Finnish 2015 parliamentary elections. In a representative sample of young adults (N = 606), a longitudinal pre- post-election design revealed that attitudes towards immigration became more favourable among those disappointed by the outcome and those who did not vote for the Finns Party. Among the latter, both supporting the green-red rival parties and disliking the Finns Party independently predicted increased support for migration. Other attitudes did not change. The results highlight the importance of social processes and identity concerns, particularly self-categorization, as drivers of attitude change. While previous work has focused on conformity dynamics, our results suggest that diverging from an unwanted identity may be associated with attitude change.

How do social class position and party preference influence support for fossil fuel taxation in Nordic countries?

“…On the other hand, the results indicate how citizens differentiate themselves from other groups through party preference (Goren et al, 2009;Greene, 2004). For instance, Populist-Right parties (the Swedish Democrats in Sweden and the Finns Party in Finland) have been profiled as highly critical toward immigration, as opposed to the Green and Leftist parties in both countries (Harteveld et al, 2017;Lönnqvist et al, 2018). In this respect, it is possible that the supporters of the Right-Wing populist parties want to distinguish themselves from the supporters of the Left-Green parties when taking a stand on a political question related to the core values of the Left-Green parties, such as environmental policies.…”

Polarization in the wake of the European refugee crisis – a longitudinal study of the Finnish political elite’s attitudes towards refugees and the environment

“…For instance, the "Maiden of Finland" used as the symbol of independence and the 'purity' of the nation is, as portrayed against the landscape "of the thousand lakes" also the symbol of Finnish nature (Reitala, 1983). Also pointing to the importance of identity factors in polarization, merely disliking the Finns Party was, in a sample drawn from the mass public, shown to predict increasing one's support for the intake of refugees after the Finns Party win in 2015 (Lönnqvist, Mannerström, & Leikas, 2018).…”

“…Although we longitudinally record the polarization of refugee and environmental attitudes from 2012 to 2017, during which the 2015 European so called refugee-crisis occurred, we cannot really know that it is this crisis that caused the observed polarization. Other possible causes include the parliamentary elections in 2015, in which both the Finns Party and the Green League can be considered to have won (Lönnqvist et al, 2018). Election victories can radicalize both supporters of the winning party (Georgeac, Rattan, & Effron, 2018) and their opponents (Lönnqvist et al, 2018).…”

“…Other possible causes include the parliamentary elections in 2015, in which both the Finns Party and the Green League can be considered to have won (Lönnqvist et al, 2018). Election victories can radicalize both supporters of the winning party (Georgeac, Rattan, & Effron, 2018) and their opponents (Lönnqvist et al, 2018).…”

Understanding the psychological appeal of populism

“…Considering the crucial role played by blaming others, it is not surprising to find populist support fuelled by anti-establishment sentiments (29,30), opposition to minority groups and their rights (19,31), and negative party identification (1,32). Similarly, research in right-wing populist contexts has found that increases in the political power of a populist party lead mainstream voters to strengthen their support for the key 'other' against which populism mobilises, namely, immigrants (33).…”