The social breakdown thesis (also known as the
anomie
In sociology, anomie () is a social condition defined by an uprooting or breakdown of any moral values, standards or guidance for individuals to follow. Anomie is believed to possibly evolve from conflict of belief systems and causes breakdown ...
–social breakdown thesis)
[Fella, S. and Ruzza, C. (2009) ''Reinventing the Italian Right: Territorial politics, populism and post-fascism, Abingdon: Routledge'', p 215] is a theory that posits that individuals that are socially isolated — living in atomized, socially disintegrated societies — are particularly likely to support
right-wing populist
Right-wing populism, also called national populism and right-wing nationalism, is a political ideology that combines right-wing politics and populist rhetoric and themes. Its rhetoric employs anti-elitist sentiments, opposition to the Establi ...
parties.
According to social breakdown theory, when traditional social structures based on class and religion are breaking down, individuals lack a sense of belonging and are attracted to ethnic nationalist parties because, according to psychological research, it leads to an increased sense of self-esteem and efficacy.
[Merkel, P. and Weinberg, L. (2004) ''Right-wing Extremism in the Twenty-first Century'', Frank Cass Publishers: London, pp 50-51]
Support
Some studies have shown that support for the French
Front National
The National Rally (french: Rassemblement National, ; RN), until 2018 known as the National Front (french: link=no, Front National, ; FN), is a far-rightAbridged list of reliable sources that refer to National Rally as far-right:
Academic:
...
and the German
Die Republikaner
The Republicans (german: Die Republikaner, REP) is a national conservative political party in Germany. The primary plank of the programme is opposition to immigration. The party tends to attract protest voters who think that the Christian Democr ...
correlates positively with a high urban level of social isolation and low religious and trade union ties.
A Dutch study has linked social isolation and support for the far-right.
Criticism
Social breakdown thesis was at one time a popular theory to explain the
rise of Nazism
The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported th ...
during the interwar years in Weimar Germany but fell out of favour after greater empirical research.
Jens Rydgren Jens Rydgren (born 1969) is a Swedish writer, political commentator and a professor of sociology, at Stockholm University. Specialising in research of political sociology, for many years he has studied populist right-wing parties. In 2002 he defen ...
argues that social breakdown theory has little empirical support within the academic literature on this topic.
[Rydgren, J. (2007) The Sociology of the Radical Right, Annual Review of Sociology, p 247] The academics Fella and Ruzza argue that a blanket social breakdown thesis is an insufficient explanation for the rise of far-right parties given the different voting profiles of European far-right parties.
See also
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Ethnic competition thesis The ethnic competition thesis, also known as ethnic competition theory or ethnic competition hypothesis, is an academic theory that posits that individuals support far-right political parties because they wish to reduce competition from immigrants o ...
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Linked fate Linked fate is a concept in political science which describes the mechanism by which group consciousness leads to political cohesion among members of a social identity group. It originated in African-American studies, as individuals who perceived ...
*
Modernisation losers thesis The modernization losers thesis, or modernization losers theory, is a theory associated with the academic Hans-Georg Betz that posits that individuals support far-right political parties because they wish to undo changes associated with modernizatio ...
*
Relative deprivation thesis
Relative deprivation is the lack of resources to sustain the diet, lifestyle, activities and amenities that an individual or group are accustomed to or that are widely encouraged or approved in the society to which they belong. Peter Townsend, ''Po ...
References
{{extremeright
Far-right politics
Sociological theories
Theories of political behavior