What happens when they neglect us? Measuring collective misrecognition and its role as a predictor of political extremism.

Objective: Literature on the motivations underlying political extremism shows that group identities are an important explanatory factor of this particular conduct.Among these aspects, we find a philosophical tradition linking social conflict with feelings that the ingroup is not sufficiently recognized by others.The idea of mattering to others has been partially introduced into the research of political extremism.However, the approaches to this motivation remain focused on personal recognition and social validation.With this research, we aim to situate a complementary path via "collective misrecognition."This construct defines the perception that the group is not respected enough by other groups in society and not recognized as an essential part of the latter.We argue this would cause an important grievance and spite against other groups, constituting a parallel path toward extremism.Method: To address this gap, we conducted four studies in Spain, Mexico, and the United States (N total = 1,114) to validate the Collective Misrecognition Scale, applying exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, and invariance analyses.Results: The scale proved to be valid and reliable across all three contexts.Moreover, it predicted extremism in the three countries of study, albeit indirectly in the United States.Conclusions: Overall, our results support the robustness of this novel collective misrecognition scale while suggesting it could be an important motivator of political extremism and violence.However, full cross-cultural equivalence of the scale should not be assumed a priori, as multigroup analyses indicate that its functioning retains context-specific nuances. Public Significance StatementThis research introduces a new way to measure when people feel their social or political group is misrecognized, defined as the perception that the ingroup is not sufficiently respected or acknowledged by society.We show that these perceptions are linked to support for extremist actions across different countries.Understanding this dynamic can inform the prevention of radicalization and guide interventions, as well as contribute toward more effective reconciliation processes between groups.