Political Extremism and Perceived Anomie: New Evidence of Political Extremes’ Symmetries and Asymmetries Within French Samples

Abstract

The present research aimed to extend the existing literature on political extremes’ symmetries and asymmetries, by examining the relationship between political extremism and perceived societal anomie (i.e., perceptions that the 'leadership is disregulated' and that the 'social fabric is disintegrated') across three studies conducted within French samples. The first two studies revealed that perceived leadership disregulation increased as participants position themselves toward either political extreme and was associated with greater support for proposals regarding protectionism and economic redistribution; indicating a symmetry between political extremes. However, perceived social fabric disintegration was not associated with political extremism but was stronger for far-right individuals; thus suggesting an asymmetry between the extremes. The last study, conducted before the 2017 French Presidential elections, showed that, when imagining a future society in which the candidate they supported is elected as President, political extremes, compared to moderates, similarly reported reduced levels of leadership disregulation, but not social fabric disintegration. The present findings therefore suggest both similarities and differences between political extremes’ perception of anomie within current and future French society and extend previous work showing that political extremes share negative views of society.

Keywords

• perceived societal anomie
• political orientation
• quadratic relationship
• u-shaped relationship
• political extremism