At a time of widespread disillusion, citizens keep telling us how “frustrated” they feel with their democracies. However, whilst scholars and commentators alike have heard that complain millions of times, we may not have taken it as seriously as we should. The author takes the concept of democratic frustration literally and puts it under an unprecedented analytical and empirical microscope. She applies insights from the psychology and political science literatures and uses a mixture of panel studies, surveys, interviews, and experiments to understand its sources, nature, dimensions, and consequences. The book sheds unprecedented light on pathologies of democratic frustration in the US, UK, Australia, and South Africa with a double focus on the general population, and on young people. Doing so, it reveals new thought-provoking insights on the true nature of contemporary democratic crises, and not least on how citizens’ actual desire for democracy uniquely shapes their dissatisfaction.
Author(s): Sarah Harrison
Series: Palgrave Studies in Political Psychology
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Year: 2023
Language: English
Pages: 353
City: Cham
Acknowledgments
Contents
List of Figures
List of Tables
1 Anatomy of Democratic Frustration
What Is Pathologies of Democratic Frustration About?
Paradoxes of Democratic Crises
The Psychological Concept of Frustration
Mapping Democratic Frustration vis-à-vis Other Models of Democratic Crises
Dimensions of Democratic Frustration
Modelling Democratic Frustration at the Individual Level: Socio-Demographic, Psychological, Political, and Electoral Psychology Determinants
Social and Demographic Components
Psychological Predictors
Political Predictors
Electoral Psychology Predictors
Modelling Systemic Level Determinants of Democratic Frustration
Withdrawal, Anger, and Aggression—A Model of the Behavioural Consequences of Democratic Frustration
From Hopelessness to Hostility: Mapping the Potential Attitudinal Consequences of Democratic Frustration
Psychological Models of the Evolution of Frustration
Diagnosing Frustration
Frustration and the First Vote
Democratic Frustration, Guilt, and Self-Blame
Cycles of Frustration and of Democratic Frustration
Therapeutics of Frustration
How Can We Explain the Determinants, Dynamics, and Consequences of Democratic Frustration?
References
2 Models and Operationalisation of Democratic Frustration
Democratic Frustration and Other Standards-Delivery Gap Combinations
The Challenge of Operationalising Democratic Frustration and Measuring Its Components and Dimensions
Overall Research Design Architecture
The Narrative Nature of Democratic Frustration: Two Sets of Qualitative Measures
Spontaneous Open-Ended Evocations of Frustration from Large Representative Samples of Citizens
Exploring the Discourse of Democratic Frustration: In-depth Interviews
Quantitative Approaches
A Comparable Index of Democratic Frustration: Survey Measures
Additional Survey Components
Unravelling the Cycle of Frustration—An Experiment
Additional Panel Study Survey
Case Selection
Risks and Advantages of Pilot Research Measurement
References
3 Nature of Democratic Frustration: Democratic Desire, Standards, and Perceived Delivery in Action
Approaching the Nature of Frustration
Dimensions of Democratic Frustration: An Empirical Analysis
Mapping Democratic Desire
Mapping the Democratic Delivery Gap
Mapping Democratic Frustration as an Interactive Object
Analytical Categories
Spontaneous Narratives of Dimensions of Frustration
The Nature of Democratic Frustration—How Is It Experienced?
Democratic Frustration and Emotions
Perceptions of Democratic Frustration in Self and Others
Democratic Frustration in Intimate Circles—Discussing and Cultivating Frustration with Family and Friends
Managing Frustration—Expectations and Resolution
Democratic Frustration: Complex, Emotional, and Disruptive Nature of Widely Acknowledged Phenomenon
References
4 Dynamics of Democratic Frustration: An Asymmetric Bottomless Well
Dynamics of Democratic Frustration
An Experiment on the Nature of Democratic Frustration
Experimental Results
The Test of Time‒How Stable Is Democratic Frustration?
Components of Democratic Frustration: A Tale of Aggregate Level Stability and Limited Individual Level Variations
Using Panel Data to Unravel the Dynamics of the Relationship Between Frustration Components
Are Frustration Tunnels Lightless?
Breaking the Vicious Circle: Principles and Options
Addressing the Displacement-Frustration-Pathologies Triangle?
References
5 Determinants of Democratic Frustration: Socio-Demographic, Psychological, Behavioural, and Electoral Psychology Factors
Dissecting Determinants of Democratic Frustration—Individual and Combined Components and Types of Predictors
Determinants of Democratic Desire
Social and Demographic Determinants
Political Determinants
Electoral Psychology Predictors
Psychological Determinants
Multivariate Model of Democratic Desire
Determinants of the Democratic Delivery Gap
Social and Demographic Determinants
Political and Electoral Psychology Determinants
Psychological Determinants
Multivariate Models of the Democratic Delivery Gap
The Desire-Delivery Gap Interaction: Capturing the Causes of Democratic Frustration
Socio-Demographic Determinants
Political Determinants
Electoral Psychology Determinants
Psychological Determinants
Multivariate Analysis
Qualitative Illustrations
Democratic Frustration—Unique Determinants for a Unique Logic
Reference
6 Emergence of Democratic Frustration: The Case of First-Time Voters
What’s so Special About First-Time Voters?
Age and the Frustration Cycle
Approach
Are First-Time Voters More or Less Democratically Frustrated Than the Rest of the Population?
Determinants of Democratic Frustration Among First-Time Voters
Behavioural Consequences of Democratic Frustration Among First-Time Voters
Attitudinal Consequences of Democratic Frustration Among First-Time Voters
Cycle of Bitterness
Unearthing the Initial Seed of Frustration: Findings from the In-Depth Narrative Interviews
First Memories of Frustration
A Sometimes Anti-climactic First Vote
Unravelling the Cycle of Democratic Frustration in First-Time Voters’ Own Words
Democratic Frustration and Life Cycle—Generational Divides
Paradoxes of Cycles of Frustration
References
7 Behavioural and Attitudinal Consequences of Democratic Frustration: The Withdrawal, Anger, and Aggression Model
Why Could Democratic Frustration Matter? Typology of Potential Consequences
Behavioural Consequences of Democratic Frustration
How Widespread Are the Behavioural Consequences of Democratic Frustration?
The Impact of Dimensions of Democratic Frustration on Withdrawal, Anger, and Aggression: Multivariate Analysis
Narratives of the Behavioural Consequences of Democratic Frustration
From Behavioural to Attitudinal Consequences
Democratic Frustration and the Atmosphere of Elections
Democratic Frustration and Hopelessness
Democratic Frustration and Electoral Hostility
Democratic Frustration and Compliance
Everyday Attitudinal Consequences of Democratic Frustration—qualitative Evidence
Conclusion: The Threat of an Ever-More-Consequential Democratic Frustration
References
8 Contextualising Democratic Frustration: Unravelling Narratives of Citizens’ Frustration in the US, UK, Australia, and South Africa
Societal Expressions of Democratic Frustration
Split at Its Heart: Mutual Frustrations in Brexit Britain
Historical Setting
Prima Facie Democratic Frustration Among Leavers
Prima Facie Democratic Frustration Among Remainers
Interpretation of Frustration Contexts
A Wall of Frustration Across America: Mutual Frustration in Trump America
Historical Setting
Narratives of Partisan Frustration
Frustratingly Caught in the Middle
Interpretation of Frustration Contexts
Democratisation, Corruption, and Frustration in South Africa
Historical Setting
Expressions of Popular Frustration
Interpretation of Frustration Contexts
Protection and Restrictions at the End of the World? Democratic Frustration in Australia in the Age of the Coronavirus
Expressions of Popular Frustration
Interpretation of Frustration
Conclusion
References
9 Conclusions
The Bottomless Well of Democratic Frustration
Pathologies of Unhappiness
What Makes Democratic Frustration so Different from Democratic Dissatisfaction?
What Does Democratic Frustration Tell Us About Democratic Crises and the Future of Democracies?
A Very Consequential Frustration—and Relatively Inconsequential Ideological Gap
The Emergence, Causes, and Cycle of Democratic Frustration
Democratic Frustration in the Age of COVID-19
Do Current Paths Towards Democratic Improvement Miss the Plot of Democratic Frustration?—the Example of the EU
Can Democratic Frustration Ever Be Remedied?
References
Appendices
Appendix 1: Extra Tables
Exploring Democratic Frustration—Interview Structure & Themes
The Concept
Structure of Interview
Semi-Structured Interviews on Democratic Frustration
Principles:
Protocol
Other potential questions:
Other potential questions:
Other potential questions:
Other potential questions:
Other potential questions:
Other possible questions
Exploring Democratic Frustration: Information Briefing Sheet
Exploring Democratic Frustration: Informed Consent Form
Exploring Democratic Frustration: First-Time Voters
FTV ONE-TO-ONE INTERVIEW
Survey Questions: Democratic Frustration
Bibliography
Index
