Radicalized Mainstream: Mobilizing, Normalizing and Normativizing far-right ideologies from the Centre

Radicalized actors/ideologies and the mainstream are usually considered opposing poles. The mainstream is often portrayed as moderate and centrist in terms of its convictions and policies and placed in opposition to the far-right and far-left. However, with the recent rise of the far-right in many countries and regions worldwide, a rapidly growing body of research is exploring how the electoral successes of the far-right are enabling parties, social movements, agendas, and discourses to move from the fringes to the mainstream. This body of research focuses predominantly on far-right actors and how they strategize, in other words on whether and how far-right parties and movements adapt their narratives, rhetoric and repertoires of action to move closer to mainstream norms in order to appeal to the majority. In this context, the mainstream is predominantly seen through the lens of its interaction with fringe ideologies being adopted or absorbed, which Wodak (2020) has dubbed "shameless normalization". In spite of that, the mainstream is only rarely considered as an agent beyond the conceptual framework of an interaction with the far-right. This presentation draws on novel insights from a quantitative population survey looking into attitudes of different social groups in society vis-à-vis far-right actors and the consequences of their electoral successes in Germany, including perceptions of threats on one’s own future and the future of society. It brings together research that pays particular attention to "the mainstream" as a heterogeneous agent accommodating, aligning, and normalizing far-right actors, actions, and attitudes, as well as specifying those continuing to fight against it.