Right-Wing Extremism in the Social Context: Multilevel Analyses of the Significance of Contextual Effects in Relation to Right-Wing Extremist Attitudes Among Adolescents

Abstract

Most of the previous studies of right-wing extremist attitudes are limited to the analysis of individual determinants. In addition to examining the extent of right-wing extremist attitudes among young people, this study analyses how the social context of the district and the school class can exert an influence on the formation of right-wing extremist attitudes. Multilevel analyses can be used to identify relationships between right-wing attitudes and contextual effects of the school class that can be attributed to deprivation theory, the model of collective socialisation, and the contact hypothesis. Overall, the context of the school class turns out to be more important than the context of the district. The analyses indicate that having a larger share of adolescents in the school class with an immigrant background and parents with a university entrance qualification reduces right-wing extremist attitudes. At the same time, the proportion of parents receiving social assistance increases the approval of right-wing extremist attitudes.