Η εκλογική κοινωνιολογία της ακροδεξιάς ψήφου

Abstract

The article analyses the sociology of the radical right-wing vote: which social- demographic and occupational groups vote for the radical and populist right-wing parties and how they shape their party preference. It also considers the preconditions for the expression of a ‘negative vote’ in favor of the radical right-wing parties. We argue that voters with organizational bonds and ideological identifications with antechamber-groups of the left (trade unions) or social-cultural milieus of the right (churches) are less vulnerable to the electoral appeal of the radical right.
A main feature of the radical right, in the postwar era, is its ‘catchall’ performance: radical right-wing parties are apt to collect votes both from the right and the left. This is the result of a kind of authentic populism expressed by the radical right-wing parties. The radical right accommodates and melts together heterogeneous ideological and political perceptions. This ‘complex alchemy’ of the radical right constitutes a ‘trap’ for the mainstream parties: by imitating its political discourse and adopting its policies, mainstream parties ease the way for the radical right-wing parties to penetrate electoral groups which have lost their party identification, both in the traditional right and the left, and to impose the issues of the radical right to the public debate.