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Populism and Social Polarization in European Democracies

Author

Listed:
  • Ginsburgh, Victor

    (Université catholique de Louvain, LIDAM/CORE, Belgium)

  • Perelman, Sergio

    (Université de Liège)

  • Pestieau, Pierre

    (Université catholique de Louvain, LIDAM/CORE, Belgium)

Abstract

The objective of this article is to explain populist attitudes that are prevailing in a number of European democracies. Populist attitudes usually lead to social protests and populist votes. We capture the populist wave by relying on values that are traditionally viewed as populist—such as distrust of institutions and neighbors, rejection of migrations, and strong preferences for law and order—rather than on voting behavior. Our study covers the period 2004–2018 and 25 European countries for which we match aggregated indicators of populist values and social polarization based on ESS and SILC survey micro-data. We show that social polarization varies dramatically across European regions, but at the same time, some convergence is observed. Our estimations confirm, in most cases, a positive and statistically significant relation between social polarization and populist attitudes.

Suggested Citation

  • Ginsburgh, Victor & Perelman, Sergio & Pestieau, Pierre, 2021. "Populism and Social Polarization in European Democracies," LIDAM Reprints CORE 3180, Université catholique de Louvain, Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE).
    • Handle: RePEc:cor:louvrp:3180
    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/cesifo/ifab006
    Note: In: CESifo Economic Studies, 2021, ifab006
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    Cited by:

    1. Amavilah, Voxi Heinrich, 2020. "T’was slouching towards an illusion and now it’s scurrying toward a delusion: A COVID19-shocked doughnut model economy," MPRA Paper 103263, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Gubello, Michele, 2024. "Social trust and the support for universal basic income," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    3. Andreas, Marike & Kaiser, Anna K. & Dhami, Raenhha & Brugger, Vincent & Sniehotta, Falko F., 2025. "How beliefs and policy characteristics shape the public acceptability of nutritional policies—A survey study in Germany," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 152(C).

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    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement
    • I30 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - General

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