Lone wolves or collective threats? Public perception of right-wing and Islamist violence

Abstract Research shows that political violence influences public opinion and politics. However, little comparative research has looked at the effect of ideological motives behind violence on public perceptions. Drawing on social identity theory, I argue that ideological motives make a systematic difference in threat perceptions and that Western societies have distorted perceptions of Islamist and right-wing violence. Empirically, I use experimental evidence from a representative sample of the German population. The between-subjects priming experiment is based on newspaper stories about Islamist and right-wing terrorist attacks. The results show that Islamist attacks are more often perceived as a collective threat rather than an isolated act compared to right-wing attacks, resulting in greater fear, stigmatisation, and support for restrictive policies. The findings offer a deeper understanding of how outgroup prejudice influence threat perceptions and policy preferences.