Abstract
Abstract. Current societal conflicts are characterized by identity struggles and discontent concerning globalization and modernization. While the literature identifies several psychological determinants of this discontent, systematic measurement approaches based on well-defined constructs are rare. Here, we present the development and validation of the Perceived Societal Marginalization (PSM) scale, which aims to assess individual differences in people’s subjective perceptions of the insignificance and lack of recognition of their own social groups in the domains of economy, culture, and politics. We first provide a definition of PSM and a conceptual analysis of its components based on (a) a top-down review of relevant psychological, sociological, and political science theories and (b) a bottom-up approach involving semi-structured group interviews with various German citizen associations followed by qualitative content analysis. We then present the results of psychometric validation of the PSM scale (factor structure, reliability) based on three large online surveys with heterogeneous samples (total N = 2,566) and explore sociodemographic, personality, and attitudinal correlates. The discussion focuses on applications of the PSM scale, that is, the role of PSM in explaining societal cleavages as well as threat perceptions towards and rejection of cultural, ethnic, and religious minorities.
References
2000). Relationship of subjective and objective social status with psychological and physiological functioning: Preliminary data in healthy white women. Health Psychology, 19(6), 586–592. https://doi.org/10.1037/0278-6133.19.6.586
(2009). Why do dominant personalities attain influence in face-to-face groups? The competence-signaling effects of trait dominance. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 96(2), 491–503. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0014201
(1995). The need to belong: Desire for interpersonal attachments as a fundamental human motivation. Psychological Bulletin, 117(3), 497–529. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.117.3.497
(2014). Die Kurzskala Autoritarismus (KSA-3): Ein ökonomisches Messinstrument zur Erfassung dreier Subdimensionen autoritärer Einstellungen
([Authoritarianism short scale (KSA-3): An economic measure to assess three subdimensions of authoritarian attitudes] (GESIS-Working Papers No. 2014/35) . GESIS – Leibniz-Institut für Sozialwissenschaften. https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:0168-ssoar-4267112012). Political Efficacy Kurzskala (PEKS): Ein Messinstrument zur Erfassung politischer Kompetenz- und Einflussüberzeugungen
([Political Efficacy short scale (PEKS): A measure to assess political competence and influence beliefs] (GESIS-Working Papers No. 2012/18). GESIS – Leibniz-Institut für Sozialwissenschaften1997). Immigration, acculturation, and adaptation. Applied Psychology, 46(1), 5–34. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1464-0597.1997.tb01087.x
(2019a). Perceived Societal Marginalization. https://osf.io/zf8mx
(2019b). Perceived Societal Marginalization. https://osf.io/yek5h
(2021a). Data_study1_1_psyweb.csv; data_study1_2_psyweb.csv; data_study1_3_respondi.xlsx; data_study2_respondi.sav [Data Set]. https://osf.io/mu782
(2021b, January 13). Perceived Societal Marginalization. https://osf.io/mu782/
(1993). In-group or out-group extremity: Importance of the threatened social identity. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 19(4), 381–388. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167293194003
(1990). Alienation: A cause of juvenile delinquency. Adolescence, 25(98), 435–440.
(2008). Gambling as a search for justice: Examining the role of personal relative deprivation in gambling urges and gambling behavior. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 34(11), 1514–1529. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167208322956
(2013). A first course in factor analysis (2nd ed.). Taylor & Francis. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315827506
(2005). Best practices in exploratory factor analysis: Four recommendations for getting the most from your analysis. Practical Assessment, Research, and Evaluation, 10, Article 7. https://scholarworks.umass.edu/pare/vol10/iss1/7/
(2017). The global refugee crisis: Empirical evidence and policy implications for improving public attitudes and facilitating refugee resettlement. Social Issues and Policy Review, 11(1), 78–123. https://doi.org/10.1111/sipr.12028
(2013). Round 6 Module on Europeans’ understandings and evaluations of democracy – final module in template. Centre for Comparative Social Surveys, City University London.
. (1997). Prejudice as self-image maintenance: Affirming the self through derogating others. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 73(1), 31–44. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.73.1.31
(2017). German Longitudinal Election Study (GLES). https://www.gesis.org/fileadmin/upload/dienstleistung/forschungsdatenzentren/gles/Frage.pdf
. (2017). The road to somewhere: The populist revolt and the future of politics, Hurst.
(1965). A rationale and test for the number of factors in factor analysis. Psychometrika, 30(2), 179–185. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02289447
(2016). Evaluating item-sort task methods: The presentation of a new statistical significance formula and methodological best practices. Journal of Business and Psychology, 31(1), 173–186. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10869-015-9404-y
(1999). Cutoff criteria for fit indexes in covariance structure analysis: Conventional criteria versus new alternatives. Structural Equation Modeling, 6(1), 1–55. https://doi.org/10.1080/10705519909540118
(2014). Speaking (un-)truth to power: Conspiracy mentality as a generalised political attitude. European Journal of Personality, 28(1), 25–43. https://doi.org/10.1002/per.1930
(2016). Trump, Brexit, and the rise of populism: Economic have-nots and cultural backlash. HKS Faculty Research Working Paper Series No. RWP16-026. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2818659
(2015). Perceived marginalization and aggression: A longitudinal study with low-educated adolescents. British Journal of Social Psychology, 54(1), 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjso.12075
(2001). Rebels with a cause: Group identification as a response to perceived discrimination from the mainstream. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 27(9), 1204–1213. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167201279012
(2012). Eine Kurzskala zur Messung von Kontrollüberzeugung: Die Skala Internale-Externale Kontrollüberzeugung-4 (IE-4)
([A short-scale for measuring locus of control: The Internal-External-Locus-of-Control-Scale-4 (IE-4)] (GESIS-Working Papers No. 2012/19) . GESIS – Leibniz-Institut für Sozialwissenschaften. https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:0168-ssoar-3120962019). What is threatening about refugees? Identifying different types of threat and their association with emotional responses and attitudes towards refugee migration. European Journal of Social Psychology, 49(7), 1401–1420. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.2593
(2018). The psychology of social class: How socioeconomic status impacts thought, feelings, and behaviour. The British Journal of Social Psychology, 57(2), 267–291. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjso.12251
(2015). Qualitative Inhaltsanalyse: Grundlagen und Techniken
([Qualitative content analysis: Basic principles and techniques] (rev 12th ed.). Beltz.2002). Public support for the European Union: Cost/benefit analysis or perceived cultural threat? Journal of Politics, 64(2), 551–566. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-2508.00139
(2000). The renewal of the radical right: Between modernity and anti‐modernity. Government and Opposition, 35(2), 170–188. https://doi.org/10.1111/1477-7053.00022
(2018). The psychology of supranationalism: Its ideological correlates and implications for EU attitudes and post‐Brexit preferences. Political Psychology, 39(6), 1305–1322. https://doi.org/10.1111/pops.12542
(2008). Relative deprivation and intergroup prejudice. Journal of Social Issues, 64(2), 385–401. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4560.2008.00567.x
(2013). Social dominance in context and in individuals. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 4(5), 587–599. https://doi.org/10.1177/1948550612473663
(2017). The future of Europe: Comparing public and elite attitudes, Chatham House.
(2018). Validation of the short and extra-short forms of the Big Five Inventory-2 (BFI-2) and their German adaptations. European Journal of Psychological Assessment, 36(1), 149–161. https://doi.org/10.1027/1015-5759/a000481
(1966). Relative deprivation and social justice. A study of attitudes to social inequality in twentieth-century England, University of California Press.
(2001). Appraisal processes in emotion: Theory, methods, research, Oxford University Press.
(2015). Voluntary commitment to research transparency, Research Transparency. http://www.researchtransparency.org
(2000). BSSS – Berliner Social-Support Skalen
([BSSS – Berlin Social-Support Scales] . Freie Universität Berlin, Abteilung für Gesundheitspsychologie. http://userpage.fuberlin.de/~gesund/skalen/Berliner_Social_Support_Skalen/berliner_social_support_skalen.htm2015). Media cues and citizen support for right-wing populist parties. International Journal of Public Opinion Research, 28(3), 307–330. https://doi.org/10.1093/ijpor/edv014
(2009). Big-five personality, social worldviews, and ideological attitudes: Further tests of a dual process cognitive-motivational model. The Journal of Social Psychology, 149(5), 545–561. https://doi.org/10.1080/00224540903232308
(2012). A 21 word solution. SSRN Electronic Journal, https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2160588
(2001). Autoritarismus und Soziale Dominanzorientierung als generalisierte Einstellungen
([Authoritarianism and social dominance orientation as generalized attitudes] . Zeitschrift für Politische Psychologie, 9, 23–40.2001).
(Is it just me? The different consequences of personal and group relative deprivation . In I. WalkerH. J. SmithEds., Relative deprivation (pp. 91–116). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511527753.0052012). Relative deprivation: A theoretical and meta-analytic review. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 16(3), 203–232. https://doi.org/10.1177/1088868311430825
(2005). The effects of feeling threatened on attitudes toward immigrants. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 29(1), 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijintrel.2005.04.011
(2017).
(Intergroup threat theory . In Y. Y. KimEd., The international encyclopedia of intercultural communication (Vol. 3, pp. 1–12). Wiley. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118783665.ieicc01622019). Bridging political divides: Perceived threat and uncertainty avoidance help explain the relationship between political ideology and immigrant attitudes within diverse intergroup contexts. Frontiers in Psychology, 10, Article 1236. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01236
(2004).
(The social identity theory of intergroup behavior . In J. T. JostJ. SidaniusEds., Political Psychology (pp. 276–293). Psychology Press. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203505984-162006). Youth “at risk”: Further marginalizing the marginalized? Journal of Education Policy, 21(2), 129–145. https://doi.org/10.1080/02680930500499968
(