Materialist and Post-Materialist Concerns and the Wish for a Strong Leader in 27 Countries

There is evidence that democracies are under threat around the world while the quest for strong leaders is increasing. Although the causes of these developments are complex and multifaceted, here we focus on one factor: the extent to which citizens express materialist and post-materialist concerns. We explore whether objective higher levels of democracy are differentially associated with materialist and post-materialist concerns and, in turn, whether this is related to the wish for a strong leader. Testing this hypothesis across 27 countries (N = 5,741) demonstrated a direct negative effect of democracies' development on the wish for a strong leader. Further, multi-level mediation analysis showed that the relation between the Democracy Index and the wish for a strong leader was mediated by materialist concerns. This pattern of results suggests that lower levels of democracy are associated with enhanced concerns about basic needs and this is linked to greater support for strong leaders.Peer reviewe

Materialist and Post-Materialist Concerns and the Wish for a Strong Leader in 27 Countries

There is evidence that democracies are under threat around the world while the quest for strong leaders is increasing. Although the causes of these developments are complex and multifaceted, here we focus on one factor: the extent to which citizens express materialist and post-materialist concerns. We explore whether objective higher levels of democracy are differentially associated with materialist and post-materialist concerns and, in turn, whether this is related to the wish for a strong leader. Testing this hypothesis across 27 countries (N = 5,741) demonstrated a direct negative effect of democracies' development on the wish for a strong leader. Further, multi-level mediation analysis showed that the relation between the Democracy Index and the wish for a strong leader was mediated by materialist concerns. This pattern of results suggests that lower levels of democracy are associated with enhanced concerns about basic needs and this is linked to greater support for strong leaders.Peer reviewe

Revisiting the Measurement of Anomie

Peer reviewe

Cultural Values Moderate the Impact of Relative Deprivation

Relative deprivation (RD) is the judgment that one or one’s ingroup is worse off compared with some relevant standard coupled with feelings of dissatisfaction, anger, and resentment. RD predicts a wide range of outcomes, but it is unclear whether this relationship is moderated by national cultural differences. Therefore, in the first study, we used national assessments of individual-collectivism and power distance to code 303 effect sizes from 31 different countries with 200,578 participants. RD predicted outcomes ranging from life satisfaction to collective action more strongly within individualistic nations. A second survey of 6,112 undergraduate university students from 28 different countries confirmed the predictive value of RD. Again, the relationship between individual RD and different outcomes was stronger for students who lived in more individualistic countries. Group-based RD also predicted political trust more strongly for students who lived in countries marked by lower power distance. RD effects, although consistent predictors, are culturally bounded. In particular, RD is more likely to motivate reactions within individualistic countries that emphasize individual agency and achievement as a source of self-worth

Exploring interpersonal recognition as a facilitator of students’ academic and professional identity formation in higher education

A large body of work shows that the development of students’ academic and professional identity positively predicts achievement in higher education. Despite this, there is also evidence that students have great difficulty developing both types of identity. Drawing from Honneth’s [2003a. Behovet for anerkendelse. En tekstsamling [The Need for Personal Recognition. A Text Collection. Redigeret af Rasmus Willig. København: Hans Reitzels Forlag; Honneth, A. 1992 [2006]. Kamp om anerkendelse [The Struggle for Recognition]. København: Hans Reitzels Forlag] work on the importance of recognition, we examined the perceived barriers to forming an academic and professional identity in a qualitative study among 26 Danish and 11 Australian university students. The results reveal that while both types of identity formations were contingent on different forms of recognition, there was also evidence that students perceived all three forms of interpersonal recognition (respect, solidarity, empathy) beneficial in forming academic and professional identity. More specifically, students needed interpersonal recognition as a response to validate an academic identity, and also as a creating source for developing a professional identity. Lacking social interaction possibilities with educators hindered recognition and students’ identity formations

The importance of developing students’ academic and professional identities in higher education

In higher educational research, there is a growing recognition that students’ academic achievement is influenced by their opportunities for academic identity development; however, less attention has been given to the process and development of students’ professional identity. In a qualitative study among 26 Danish and 11 Australian university students, we found that, regardless of educational background and broader educational context, many students indicated the need for professional identity, but were unable to develop it. Furthermore, a lack of clarity about professional identity was experienced as loss of goal-orientation and motivation, uncertainty, stress, and perceived poor academic achievement

Data for study 1a-b, 2a-c, & 3a-b

Each dataset in the zip file is named after each study respectively

Data from: Revisiting the measurement of anomie

Sociologists coined the term "anomie" to describe societies that are characterized by disintegration and deregulation. Extending beyond conceptualizations of anomie that conflate the measurements of anomie as 'a state of society' and as a 'state of mind', we disentangle these conceptualizations and develop an analysis and measure of this phenomenon focusing on anomie as a perception of the 'state of society'. We propose that anomie encompasses two dimensions: a perceived breakdown in social fabric (i.e., disintegration as lack of trust and erosion of moral standards) and a perceived breakdown in leadership (i.e., deregulation as lack of legitimacy and effectiveness of leadership). Across six studies we present evidence for the validity of the new measure, the Perception of Anomie Scale (PAS). Studies 1a and 1b provide evidence for the proposed factor structure and internal consistency of PAS. Studies 2a-c provide evidence of convergent and discriminant validity. Finally, assessing PAS in 28 countries, we show that PAS correlates with national indicators of societal functioning and that PAS predicts national identification and well-being (Studies 3a & 3b). The broader implications of the anomie construct for the study of group processes are discussed

Individual, Group, and Temporal Perspectives on the Link Between Wealth and Realistic Threat

info:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

Individual, group, and temporal perspectives on the link between wealth and realistic threat

In this 28-country study (N = 6112), we assessed how subjective perceptions and objective indicators of wealth were associated with majority group members’ perceptions of realistic threat related to immigration. Subjective wealth was assessed by individuals’ perceptions of their personal wealth (current/anticipated) and of their coun- try ́s wealth, whereas objective country-level wealth was assessed by GDP and HDI. Multilevel analyses showed that living in a country with a lower objective wealth and perceiving the country’s relative wealth as low were associated with higher levels of perceived realistic threat. We also found that an anticipated decrease in personal wealth in the future was associated with higher threat perceptions only in low HDI countries. Our results suggest that perceived realistic threat is fostered by a perceived decline in the current wealth of the country, and country-level wealth may play a role in calibrating threat responses to anticipated personal wealthinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio