Masculinity Under Pressure: Economic Crisis, Nationalism, and Far-Right Support Among Former Golden Dawn Voters

This study draws on semi-structured interviews with 32 former male Golden Dawn voters to examine how economic crisis, nationalist grievance, and masculine identity shaped support for the party in Greece. The findings show that participants rarely described their support in purely economic terms. Economic hardship was tied to feelings of loss, while nationalism gave these experiences a political meaning through ideas of sovereignty and decline. Across the interviews, masculinity shaped how these pressures were understood, especially in relation to status. Golden Dawn’s rhetoric brought these elements together by presenting strength as a sign of personal and national recovery. The article argues that support for Golden Dawn among these former voters is understood through the interaction of economic grievance, nationalism, and gendered self-understanding.