The excluded ordinary? A theory of populist radical right supporters’ position in society

Abstract

Populist Radical Right (PRR) supporters see themselves as ordinary people, represent a broad societal spectrum, and overrepresent historically powerful majorities (e.g., whites, men). Simultaneously, members of these groups increasingly feel neglected or discriminated against. In article, I argue that some PRR supporters may feel excluded from society despite seeing themselves as ordinary people. Optimal Distinctiveness Theory posits that individuals must balance their countervailing needs to belong to the larger group while feeling recognized as unique subgroup members. While PRR supporters’ self‐perception as ordinary people suggests that they experience belonging to the larger society, subjective experiences of neglect and disrespect may leave their uniqueness need unsatisfied. I showcase this argument using semi‐structured interviews with German PRR supporters. I discuss avenues for future quantitative tests and raise a significant implication: if subjective lack of subgroup uniqueness contributes to PRR support, reminding majority members of their objective subgroup recognition could mitigate it.