Far-right movements in the Western world: How media exposure relates to normative beliefs and attitudes toward the far-right

Selvanathan, Hema Preya, Leidner, Bernhard, Syropoulos, Stylianos, Louis, Winnifred, Adelman, Levi, Baka, Aphrodite, Bauer, Christina, Blikmans, Martijn, Becker, Maja, Beran, Eszter, Bilewicz, Michał, Chekroun, Peggy, Greitemeyer, Tobias, Hannover, Bettina, Jasinskaja-Lahti, Inga, Kardos, Peter, Li, Mengyao, Lindholm, Torun, Loughnan, Steve, Mros, Theresa, Paladino, Maria Paola, Papadopoulou, Marina, Rovenpor, Daniel R., Sadus, Kathrin, Vaes, Jeroen, Van Hiel, Alain and van Zomeren, Martijn (2025) Far-right movements in the Western world: How media exposure relates to normative beliefs and attitudes toward the far-right. Group Processes and Intergroup Relations, 28 (4). pp. 774-794. ISSN 1368-4302

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Abstract

Considering the rise of far-right groups in Western countries, we examined whether exposure to media coverage on the far-right is associated with attitudes toward it, using surveys in 15 Western democratic countries (total N = 2,576). We hypothesized that greater media exposure to the far-right will be associated with greater perceived prevalence and acceptability of it, which will in turn be associated with divergent attitudes. On the one hand, greater perceived prevalence may be associated with more unfavorable attitudes toward the far-right (a threat response). On the other hand, greater perceived acceptability may be associated with more favorable attitudes toward the far-right (a normalization response). Overall, there was more evidence for a threat response than a normalization response: media exposure was consistently related to greater perceived prevalence (but not acceptability) of the far-right. This research underscores the importance of studying the consequences of the rise of the far-right.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	Data Availability: Data and study materials are available on the Open Science Framework (https://osf.io/n8esu/).
Uncontrolled Keywords:	far-right,media effects,normalization,polarization,social movements,social norms,social psychology,cultural studies,communication,arts and humanities (miscellaneous),sociology and political science ,/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/3200/3207
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Social Sciences > School of Psychology
Related URLs:	https://www.scopus.com/pages/publication...
Depositing User:	LivePure Connector
Date Deposited:	10 Aug 2026 15:46
Last Modified:	14 Aug 2026 23:35
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/104100
DOI:	10.1177/13684302241309554

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