Fear of violent dispossession motivates support for progressive policy

Support for redistribution is associated with fear of violent dispossession. Here in two large studies, one pre-registered and population representative, we test if Fear of Violent Dispossession (fear of being forcefully deprived of one's resources by others who value them more highly) predicts support for progressive policy more broadly. Study 1 ( N = 502) found that support for progressive policy formed a coherent, reliable (ω-t 0.95) construct. Fear of Violent Dispossession linked to significantly higher support for progressive policy. Self-interest (economic gain) from progressive policy motivated increased support for progressive policy. Fear of Violent Dispossession and self-interest jointly predicted a substantial fraction of liberal-conservative political position. Female sex and higher SES were associated with higher Fear of Dispossession. Results were robust to controls, and pre-registered study 2 ( N = 500) using a large nationally representative US sample replicated the findings. The results suggest that fear motivates left, rather than right policy support, and that fears of dispossession manifest in political economic, geo-political policy support. • Support for progressive policy linked to fear of violent dispossession. • Fear of violent dispossession predicted liberalism. • Fear of violent dispossession predicted appeasement. • Personal self-interest increased Support for progressive policy.