Redistribution and Exclusion: Value Articulations in the Populist Moment

Was the populist moment of the 2010s also a redistributive moment, marked by popular support for equalizing incomes? To what extent did support for redistribution align with exclusionary values that scholars frequently associate with right-wing populism? Building on the neo-Gramscian theory of Stuart Hall, we use the World Values Survey to track post-2008 shifts in what we call ‘value articulations’: specific combinations of attitudes, in this case towards redistribution and the inclusion or exclusion of immigrants and racial or ethnic others. Support for redistribution increased across the globe after 2008. Exclusionary values remained relatively constant, but they increasingly combined with support for redistribution. Inclusionary and exclusionary redistributors shared a distrust of major institutions, but differed on the importance of democracy and cultural issues such as homosexuality and abortion. Our findings illuminate the contours of an unfolding struggle between inclusionary and exclusionary forces on the terrain of economic redistribution.