Journal of Social and Political Psychology (May 2021)
Materialist and Post-Materialist Concerns and the Wish for a Strong Leader in 27 Countries
- Marcus E. O. Lima,
- Dalila X. de França,
- Jolanda Jetten,
- Cícero R. Pereira,
- Michael J. A. Wohl,
- Inga Jasinskaja-Lahti,
- Ying-yi Hong,
- Ana Raquel Torres,
- Rui Costa-Lopes,
- Amarina Ariyanto,
- Frédérique Autin,
- Nadia Ayub,
- Constantina Badea,
- Tomasz Besta,
- Fabrizio Butera,
- Carole Fantini-Hauwel,
- Gillian Finchilescu,
- Lowell Gaertner,
- Mario Gollwitzer,
- Ángel Gómez,
- Roberto González,
- Dorthe Høj Jensen,
- Minoru Karasawa,
- Thomas Kessler,
- Olivier Klein,
- Laura Megevand,
- Thomas Morton,
- Maria Paola Paladino,
- Tibor Polya,
- Tuuli Anna Renvik,
- Aleksejs Ruza,
- Wan Shahrazad,
- Sushama Shama,
- Heather J. Smith,
- Ali Teymoori,
- Anne Marthe van der Bles
Affiliations
- Marcus E. O. Lima
- Federal University of Sergipe, Sergipe, Brazil
- Dalila X. de França
- Federal University of Sergipe, Sergipe, Brazil
- Jolanda Jetten
- University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
- Cícero R. Pereira
- Federal University of Paraíba, João Pessoa, Brazil
- Michael J. A. Wohl
- Carleton University, Ottawa, ON, Canada
- Inga Jasinskaja-Lahti
- University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
- Ying-yi Hong
- Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
- Ana Raquel Torres
- Federal University of Paraíba, João Pessoa, Brazil
- Rui Costa-Lopes
- University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal
- Amarina Ariyanto
- University of Indonesia, Jakarta, Indonesia
- Frédérique Autin
- University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
- Nadia Ayub
- Institute of Business Management, Karachi, Pakistan
- Constantina Badea
- Université Paris Nanterre, Paris, France
- Tomasz Besta
- University of Gdańsk, Gdańsk, Poland
- Fabrizio Butera
- University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
- Carole Fantini-Hauwel
- Research Center for Experimental, Clinical & Cognitive Psychopathology (MEANING), ULB, Brussels, Belgium
- Gillian Finchilescu
- University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
- Lowell Gaertner
- University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, USA
- Mario Gollwitzer
- Philipps University, Marburg, Germany
- Ángel Gómez
- Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia, UNED, Madrid, Spain
- Roberto González
- Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile
- Dorthe Høj Jensen
- Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
- Minoru Karasawa
- Nagoya University, Nagoya, Japan
- Thomas Kessler
- University of Jena, Jena, Germany
- Olivier Klein
- Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium
- Laura Megevand
- ISCTE—University Institute of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal
- Thomas Morton
- University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
- Maria Paola Paladino
- University of Trento, Trento, Italy
- Tibor Polya
- Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest, Hungary
- Tuuli Anna Renvik
- University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
- Aleksejs Ruza
- Daugavpils University, Daugavpils, Latvia
- Wan Shahrazad
- National University of Malaysia, Bangi, Malaysia
- Sushama Shama
- Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra, India
- Heather J. Smith
- Sonoma State University, Rohnert Park, CA, USA
- Ali Teymoori
- Helmut Schmidt University, Hamburg, Germany
- Anne Marthe van der Bles
- University of Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.5964/jspp.6213
- Journal volume & issue
-
Vol. 9,
no. 1
pp. 207 – 220
Abstract
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.
Keywords
