The Fearful Right and the Brave Left? About the Ideological Dimensions of Fear

Type of Abstract (select): Paper presentation

Abstract (max. 250 words):
The main goal of my research is to explore the right and left dimensions of the phenomenon of fear. I would like to argue that the categories of left and right continue to be defining aspects of political identities, and by mapping their emotional structure we can better understand the current relevance of these ideologies. By examining fears related to the refugee crisis and climate change, my research aims to show how political ideology works in our everyday lives and has an influence on our (political) decisions.
The studies that have examined political fears have mostly linked fear to conservativism and right-wing populism, while the fears of the left have generated far less scientific interest. In addition most research has been conducted using quantitative methods in the American political context. Thus, my study aims to use qualitative methods to explore differences and similarities between the political fears of left-wingers and right-wingers in Hungary. In the course of the research so far seventy semi-structured creative interviews have been conducted with political activists. The interview questions were combined with projective techniques and the activists belonged to political parties which were members of the Hungarian Parliament.
The preliminary findings of my research show that regarding migration and climate change extreme ideological positions were rarely found among the respondents. However, political polarization is one of the most important fears perceived by the interviewees in Hungary today. The results of my research also confirmed that Hungarian society is by no means polarized “by itself”, but the polarization process is mainly the creation of the political elites, who intensify naturally existing opinion differences to create a battle between good and evil.


Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Beáta Kovács is a PhD candidate at the Doctoral School of Political Sciences at the Eötvös Loránd University (Budapest). She holds a master’s degree in Political Science and a bachelor’s degree in International Relations, both granted by the same university. Currently she is a doctoral research fellow at the University of Alberta (Edmonton). Her field of research is the political sociology of emotions, more specifically she focuses on political fears related to climate change and refugee crisis.