Meritocracy, unfairness, and the directions of anger : explaining support for left and rightwing populism
Although researchers have focused on different aspects to explain the success of populist movements, perceptions of unfairness continue highly overlooked. Despite the difficulty in finding evidence, this paper elucidates the growing perceptions of unfairness, the anger it causes, and its impact o...
| Autor principal: | Sudbrack, Lucas |
|---|---|
| Outros Autores: | Tribunal Superior Eleitoral |
| Tipo de documento: | Artigo |
| Idioma: | Português |
| Publicado em: |
2025
|
| Assuntos: | |
| Obter o texto integral: |
|
| id |
oai:bibliotecadigital.tse.jus.br:bdtse-13242 |
|---|---|
| recordtype |
tse |
| spelling |
oai:bibliotecadigital.tse.jus.br:bdtse-132422025-02-04T17:23:18Z Meritocracy, unfairness, and the directions of anger : explaining support for left and rightwing populism Meritocracia, injustiça e as direções da raiva : explicando o apoio ao populismo de esquerda e de direita Sudbrack, Lucas Tribunal Superior Eleitoral Injustiça Populismo Esquerda (Ciência política) Direita (Ciência política) Although researchers have focused on different aspects to explain the success of populist movements, perceptions of unfairness continue highly overlooked. Despite the difficulty in finding evidence, this paper elucidates the growing perceptions of unfairness, the anger it causes, and its impact on the electoral success of radical left and right movements by investigating the spread of the meritocracy discourse and the ideological repositioning of political parties. I argue that the collectivization of economic grievances directs the anger caused by perceptions of unfairness exclusively to the economic elite, allowing for bottom-up mobilization and greater support for left-wing populism. However, since the meritocratic mentality encourages the individualization of grievances and social competition, the anger that the perception of unfairness creates is directed towards those seen as unfairly rewarded regardless of their income group, which increases support for right-wing populism. As populists achieve electoral success, the consolidation of the discourse and its popular support starts to depend on the ability to reaffirm the identities of the "pure people" and the "corrupt elite". The analyses of case studies in the Americas and Europe support the arguments. Embora pesquisadores tenham se concentrado em diferentes aspectos para explicar o sucesso dos movimentos populistas, as percepções de injustiça continuam altamente negligenciadas. Apesar da dificuldade em encontrar evidências, este artigo elucida as crescentes percepções de injustiça, a raiva que ela causa e o seu impacto no sucesso eleitoral de movimentos radicais de esquerda e direita, investigando a disseminação do discurso da meritocracia e o reposicionamento ideológico dos partidos políticos. Eu argumento que a coletivização de queixas econômicas direciona a raiva causada por percepções de injustiça exclusivamente para a elite econômica, permitindo uma mobilização de baixo para cima e maior apoio ao populismo de esquerda. No entanto, como a mentalidade meritocrática incentiva a individualização das queixas e a competição social, a raiva que a percepção de injustiça cria é direcionada àqueles vistos como injustamente recompensados, independentemente de sua faixa de renda, o que aumenta o apoio ao populismo de direita. À medida que os populistas alcançam o sucesso eleitoral, a consolidação do discurso e de seu apoio popular passa a depender da capacidade de reafirmar as identidades do "povo honesto" e da "elite corrupta". As análises de estudos de caso nas Américas e na Europa apoiam os argumentos. 2025-01-17T20:44:25Z 2025-01-17T20:44:25Z 2023 Artigo SUDBRACK, Lucas. Meritocracy, unfairness, and the directions of anger: explaining support for left and rightwing populism. Revista Debates, Porto Alegre, v. 17, n.1, p. 63-84, jan./abr. 2023. DOI: https://doi.org/10.22456/1982-5269.129695. http://bibliotecadigital.tse.jus.br/handle/bdtse/13242 n. 1 v. 17 pt_BR <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/deed.pt_BR"><img alt="Licença Creative Commons" style="border-width:0" src="https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-nc-nd/4.0/88x31.png" /></a><br />Este item está licenciado com uma Licença <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/deed.pt_BR">Creative Commons Atribuição-NãoComercial-SemDerivações 4.0 Internacional</a>. 22 p. application/pdf image/jpeg |
| institution |
TSE |
| collection |
TSE |
| language |
Português |
| topic |
Injustiça Populismo Esquerda (Ciência política) Direita (Ciência política) |
| spellingShingle |
Injustiça Populismo Esquerda (Ciência política) Direita (Ciência política) Sudbrack, Lucas Meritocracy, unfairness, and the directions of anger : explaining support for left and rightwing populism |
| description |
Although researchers have focused on different aspects to explain the success of populist
movements, perceptions of unfairness continue highly overlooked. Despite the difficulty in
finding evidence, this paper elucidates the growing perceptions of unfairness, the anger it
causes, and its impact on the electoral success of radical left and right movements by
investigating the spread of the meritocracy discourse and the ideological repositioning of
political parties. I argue that the collectivization of economic grievances directs the anger
caused by perceptions of unfairness exclusively to the economic elite, allowing for bottom-up
mobilization and greater support for left-wing populism. However, since the meritocratic
mentality encourages the individualization of grievances and social competition, the anger
that the perception of unfairness creates is directed towards those seen as unfairly rewarded
regardless of their income group, which increases support for right-wing populism. As
populists achieve electoral success, the consolidation of the discourse and its popular support
starts to depend on the ability to reaffirm the identities of the "pure people" and the "corrupt
elite". The analyses of case studies in the Americas and Europe support the arguments. |
| author2 |
Tribunal Superior Eleitoral |
| format |
Artigo |
| author |
Sudbrack, Lucas |
| title |
Meritocracy, unfairness, and the directions of anger : explaining support for left and rightwing populism |
| title_short |
Meritocracy, unfairness, and the directions of anger : explaining support for left and rightwing populism |
| title_full |
Meritocracy, unfairness, and the directions of anger : explaining support for left and rightwing populism |
| title_fullStr |
Meritocracy, unfairness, and the directions of anger : explaining support for left and rightwing populism |
| title_full_unstemmed |
Meritocracy, unfairness, and the directions of anger : explaining support for left and rightwing populism |
| title_sort |
meritocracy, unfairness, and the directions of anger : explaining support for left and rightwing populism |
| publishDate |
2025 |
| url |
http://bibliotecadigital.tse.jus.br/handle/bdtse/13242 |
| _version_ |
1844013400334532608 |
| score |
12,572524 |