"Our Country Needs a Strong Leader Right Now": Economic Inequality Enhances the Wish for a Strong Leader

Stefanie Sprong; Jolanda Jetten; Zhechen Wang; Kim Peters; Frank Mols; Maykel Verkuyten; Brock Bastian; Amarina Ariyanto; Frederique Autin; Nadia Ayub; Constantina Badea; Tomasz Besta; Fabrizio Butera; Rui Costa-Lopes; Lijuan Cui; Carole Fantini; Gillian Finchilescu; Lowell Gaertner; Mario Gollwitzer; Angel Gomez; Roberto Gonzalez; Ying-Yi Hong; Dorthe Hoj Jensen; Inga Jasinskaja-Lahti; Minoru Karasawa; Thomas Kessler; Olivier Klein; Marcus Lima; Laura Megevand; Thomas Morton; Paola Paladino; Tibor Polya; Tuuli Anna Renvik; Aleksejs Ruza; Wan Shahrazad; Sushama Shama; Heather J. Smith; Ana Raquel Torres; Anne Marthe van der Bles; Michael J. A. Wohl

doi:10.1177/0956797619875472

"Our Country Needs a Strong Leader Right Now": Economic Inequality Enhances the Wish for a Strong Leader

Stefanie Sprong, Jolanda Jetten, Zhechen Wang, Kim Peters, Frank Mols, Maykel Verkuyten, Brock Bastian, Amarina Ariyanto, Frederique Autin, Nadia Ayub, Constantina Badea, Tomasz Besta, Fabrizio Butera, Rui Costa-Lopes, Lijuan Cui, Carole Fantini, Gillian Finchilescu, Lowell Gaertner, Mario Gollwitzer, Angel GomezRoberto Gonzalez, Ying-Yi Hong, Dorthe Hoj Jensen, Inga Jasinskaja-Lahti, Minoru Karasawa, Thomas Kessler, Olivier Klein, Marcus Lima, Laura Megevand, Thomas Morton, Paola Paladino, Tibor Polya, Tuuli Anna Renvik, Aleksejs Ruza, Wan Shahrazad, Sushama Shama, Heather J. Smith, Ana Raquel Torres, Anne Marthe van der Bles, Michael J. A. Wohl

18 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Societal inequality has been found to harm the mental and physical health of its members and undermine overall social cohesion. Here, we tested the hypothesis that economic inequality is associated with a wish for a strong leader in a study involving 28 countries from five continents (Study 1, N = 6,112), a study involving an Australian community sample (Study 2, N = 515), and two experiments (Study 3a, N = 96; Study 3b, N = 296). We found correlational (Studies 1 and 2) and experimental (Studies 3a and 3b) evidence for our prediction that higher inequality enhances the wish for a strong leader. We also found that this relationship is mediated by perceptions of anomie, except in the case of objective inequality in Study 1. This suggests that societal inequality enhances the perception that society is breaking down (anomie) and that a strong leader is needed to restore order (even when that leader is willing to challenge democratic values).

Original language	English
Journal	Psychological Science
Volume	30
Issue number	11
Pages (from-to)	1625-1637
ISSN	0956-7976
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797619875472
Publication status	Published - 1 Nov 2019

Keywords

economic inequality
subjective and objective inequality
anomie
leadership
authoritarianism
populism
preregistered

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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Sprong, S., Jetten, J., Wang, Z., Peters, K., Mols, F., Verkuyten, M., Bastian, B., Ariyanto, A., Autin, F., Ayub, N., Badea, C., Besta, T., Butera, F., Costa-Lopes, R., Cui, L., Fantini, C., Finchilescu, G., Gaertner, L., Gollwitzer, M., ... Wohl, M. J. A. (2019). "Our Country Needs a Strong Leader Right Now": Economic Inequality Enhances the Wish for a Strong Leader. Psychological Science, 30(11), 1625-1637. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797619875472

Sprong, S, Jetten, J, Wang, Z, Peters, K, Mols, F, Verkuyten, M, Bastian, B, Ariyanto, A, Autin, F, Ayub, N, Badea, C, Besta, T, Butera, F, Costa-Lopes, R, Cui, L, Fantini, C, Finchilescu, G, Gaertner, L, Gollwitzer, M, Gomez, A, Gonzalez, R, Hong, Y-Y, Jensen, DH, Jasinskaja-Lahti, I, Karasawa, M, Kessler, T, Klein, O, Lima, M, Megevand, L, Morton, T, Paladino, P, Polya, T, Renvik, TA, Ruza, A, Shahrazad, W, Shama, S, Smith, HJ, Torres, AR, van der Bles, AM & Wohl, MJA 2019, '"Our Country Needs a Strong Leader Right Now": Economic Inequality Enhances the Wish for a Strong Leader', Psychological Science, vol. 30, no. 11, pp. 1625-1637. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797619875472

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AU - Verkuyten, Maykel

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AU - Ariyanto, Amarina

AU - Autin, Frederique

AU - Ayub, Nadia

AU - Badea, Constantina

AU - Besta, Tomasz

AU - Butera, Fabrizio

AU - Costa-Lopes, Rui

AU - Cui, Lijuan

AU - Fantini, Carole

AU - Finchilescu, Gillian

AU - Gaertner, Lowell

AU - Gollwitzer, Mario

AU - Gomez, Angel

AU - Gonzalez, Roberto

AU - Hong, Ying-Yi

AU - Jensen, Dorthe Hoj

AU - Jasinskaja-Lahti, Inga

AU - Karasawa, Minoru

AU - Kessler, Thomas

AU - Klein, Olivier

AU - Lima, Marcus

AU - Megevand, Laura

AU - Morton, Thomas

AU - Paladino, Paola

AU - Polya, Tibor

AU - Renvik, Tuuli Anna

AU - Ruza, Aleksejs

AU - Shahrazad, Wan

AU - Shama, Sushama

AU - Smith, Heather J.

AU - Torres, Ana Raquel

AU - van der Bles, Anne Marthe

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ER -

"Our Country Needs a Strong Leader Right Now": Economic Inequality Enhances the Wish for a Strong Leader

Abstract

Keywords

UN SDGs

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