From personal prejudice to political position: where does right-wing extremism come from?

Therefore, many people probably would not feel addressed by the inscription of the café. And they are probably not aware of how people feel who are targeted by racism daily. Or sometimes if they do care, even worse; they want to make others feel bad as a way of demonstrating their own power. 

Social psychology defines prejudices as generalized attitudes towards social groups or their members as determined by dedicated markers of ethnicity, nationality, religion, gender, or sexual orientation (regardless whether the categorized persons identify with the social groups themselves or not). Prejudices can be positive or negative, but the negative ones have much harsher consequences for the targeted persons. Gordon Allport, the founder of modern research on prejudice, defines prejudice shortly as thinking negatively about a person without knowing them. 

Prejudices are quite resistant to facts as there is almost always a person that meets the stereotypes, and because members of social groups who do not meet the stereotypes are not really taken into consideration. Take as example a common phrase: “Ok, Ahmed is a nice and trustful guy, but all the other Muslims …”.  Prejudice can be expressed in a blatant way, fiery and direct, but often also in a subtle way as the social norm not to be racist supresses blatant forms of prejudice. One way to express prejudice in a subtler way is to overstress cultural differences e.g. between Muslims and non-Muslims. Another way is to maintain that everybody is treated in the same way while denying existing inequalities, or to address a group with stereotypes that are seemingly positive (e.g. women are much more emotional intelligent, helpful, child-loving and have a natural inclination for housework) but that are used to legitimate inequalities.

In these representative opinion polls we have observed overall a slow decrease of prejudice towards several social groups in the last decade—so even Germany has become more tolerant (compared to other Western European countries Germany was comparably less tolerant in general). In particular the devaluation of LGBT people and women has dropped and prejudice was, if expressed, rather subtle. However, in recent times even blatant racism has been coming back.

Forty per cent of the respondents agreed that “Germany society is undermined by Islam”, a conspiracy spread by the new right.

In our last survey in 2016 for example 13 per cent of the respondents agreed that “The white race is deservedly the leading race in the world.” Old-fashioned but also new right-wing extremism is on the rise again: 40 per cent of the respondents agreed that “Germany society is undermined by Islam”, a conspiracy spread by the new right.

While the silent majority of the German population rejects right-wing-extremist and racist attitudes and expressed their strong commitment towards democracy and diversity in the surveys, a contrasting minority is becoming louder, as well as more aggressive and violent. This minority has got and still gets too much attention and understanding by politics and the media. As a consequence, the new right was able to infiltrate successfully the discourse and now even politics.

What turn do you expect for right-wing extremism and right-wing populism to take in Germany? How is this a Europe-wide and a global challenge and what can we do collectively to fight it?

Compared to other European and non-European countries Germany is rather late in the newly widespread rise of right-wing extremism and populism. There have been right-wing extremist attitudes, groups and parties continuously since the Nazi era, but now it is becoming loud again. The national security authority reports a dramatic increase of violent attacks against refugee camps as well as Jewish graveyards and synagogues, motivated by political right-wing attitudes. More often than before, perpetrators are citizens previously not connected within the organized right-wing scene. The demonstrations by PEGIDA and the anti-Islam, anti-immigrant and anti-refugee discourse in parts of the politics and media has given the grounds for those violent attacks.

Remember the horror of what can happen if prejudice and right-wing extremism wins and of the importance retaining a strong democratic compass.

It is important not to give up on the fight for more diversity and equality. We must not tap into the easy trap of prejudice either blatant or subtle, be careful of categorization, long-lasting stereotypes and myths about whole groups of people. We need to speak out loudly against everyday racism, but be friendly without blaming people who are not aware of their prejudices. Be honest towards your own prejudices and rethink them. Do not give too much attention to right-wing-populists, you can hardly fight against them with facts. Instead, follow your own democratic goals, pay attention to democratic engagement, look out for and point to similarities instead of differences with “strangers”, remind yourself to exercise empathy, perspective taking and big-heartedness, which actually is another way to feel better about yourself. Get involved in networks, together with other democratic partners, e.g. from churches, the economy, and foundations. Share ideas and resources, e.g. write to your local parliamentarian and express your position (especially of those parties giving in to or even shamelessly using prejudice). Complain to the media when they serve prejudice and give forum to right-wing populists. Occupy social media.

Remember the horror of what can happen if prejudice and right-wing extremism wins and of the importance retaining a strong democratic compass.

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For more information on the Mitte-Studie and the work by FES against right-wing extremism contact Franziska Schroeter, responsible for the dedicated project at FES Forum Berlin (link in German).