The Different Kinds of Being Left Behind: Examining Nostalgia and Social Inclusion as Drivers of Populist Radical Right Support.

The factors explaining support for Populist Radical Right Parties (PRRP) are multifaceted. Prior research increasingly acknowledges the complex interplay of economic and cultural explanations, which are argued to produce winners and losers or the so-called left behind. While the idea of radical right voters as being left behind is commonly used both in scientific and lay theories, its meaning remains vague, including explanations like economic hardship, general dissatisfaction, and social marginalization. In this project, I address this gap by studying two of the most prevalent explanations for being left behind. First, I examine nostalgia as a form of being left behind temporally. Leveraging representative panel data from the Netherlands, I investigate what individuals specifically are nostalgic about and how these different forms of nostalgia relate to PRRP support. While nostalgia is generally common in the sample, I find that only specific forms of nostalgia motivate radical right voting. Second, I draw on Optimal Distinctiveness Theory (ODT; Brewer, 1991) to present a theoretical argument for why PRRP supporters may feel left behind socially. ODT suggests that individuals need to belong to the superordinate society while also being able to express subgroup uniqueness. I argue that PRRP supporters are not socially marginalized because they would not belong. However, they may still feel excluded because their historically dominant subgroup memberships (e.g., male, white) prevents them from differentiating from the superordinate group. Together, I seek to contribute to a more nuanced theory of being left behind, advancing scientific and societal understandings.