Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-mkpzs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T18:46:38.109Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Homophobia and national collective narcissism in populist Poland

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 September 2021

Richard C. M. Mole ,
Agnieszka Golec de Zavala  and
Mahmut Murat Ardag
Richard C. M. Mole
Affiliation:
University College London [r.mole@ucl.ac.uk].
Agnieszka Golec de Zavala
Affiliation:
Goldsmiths, University of London [a.golec@gold.ac.uk].
Mahmut Murat Ardag
Affiliation:
Oldenburg University [mahmut.murat.ardag@uni-oldenburg.de].
Get access

Abstract

Opposition to sexual minority rights in Poland is among the highest in the EU. Populist political actors in the country repeatedly scapegoat gays and lesbians, presenting them as a threat to the Polish nation and its shared norms and values, particularly those derived from religion. Building upon previous research which shows how discourse constructing homosexuality as a threat to the nation has been used by social and political actors to legitimize homophobic rhetoric and behaviour, our paper shows whether nationalism—understood here as national collective narcissism—predicts prejudice towards gays and lesbians at the level of individual beliefs.

Résumé

Résumé

L’opposition aux droits des minorités sexuelles en Pologne est parmi les plus élevées de l’UE. Les acteurs politiques populistes du pays font de manière répétée des gays et des lesbiennes des boucs émissaires, les présentant comme une menace pour la nation polonaise et ses normes et valeurs communes, en particulier celles dérivées de la religion. S’appuyant sur des recherches antérieures qui montrent comment le discours construisant l’homosexualité comme une menace pour la nation a été utilisé par les acteurs sociaux et politiques pour légitimer la rhétorique et les comportements homophobes, notre article vise à montrer dans quelle mesure le nationalisme – compris ici comme un narcissisme collectif national – prédit des préjugés envers les gays et les lesbiennes au niveau des croyances individuelles.

Zusammenfassung

Zusammenfassung

In Polen ist der Widerstand gegen die Rechte sexueller Minderheiten im Vergleich zu anderen EU-Staaten am höchsten. Populistische politische Akteure Polens machen Schwule und Lesben immer wieder zum Sündenbock und stellen sie als Bedrohung der polnischen Nation und ihrer gemeinsamen Normen und Werte dar, insbesondere derer, die sich aus der Religion ableiten lassen. Aufbauend auf früheren Forschungen über soziale und politische Akteure, die homophobe Rhetorik und Verhalten legitimieren, indem sie die Homosexualität als nationale Bedrohung darstellen, untersucht unser Beitrag, in welchem Maße der Nationalismus – hier verstanden als nationaler kollektiver Narzissmus – Vorurteile gegenüber Schwulen und Lesben auf der Ebene individueller Überzeugungen hervorruft.

Keywords

Collective narcissismHomophobiaNationalismPolandPopulismNarcissisme collectifHomophobieNationalismePolognePopulismeKollektiver NarzissmusHomophobieNationalismusPolenPopulismus
Type
Research Article
Information
European Journal of Sociology / Archives Européennes de Sociologie , Volume 62 , Issue 1 , April 2021 , pp. 37 - 70
Copyright
© European Journal of Sociology 2021

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

This project was funded by the Noble Foundation’s Programme on Modern Poland [http://pomp.com.pl/en]. The project ran from September 2018 to October 2019.

We would also like to thank the two anonymous reviewers for their extremely constructive feedback and suggestions for improving our article.

References

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Adorno, Theodor, 1997. Gesammelte Schriften in zwanzig Bänden [Collected writings in 20 volumes] (Berlin, Suhrkamp/Insel).Google Scholar
Adorno, Theodor W., Frenkel-Brunswik, Else, Levinson, Daniel J. and Sanford, Nevitt R., 1950. The Authoritarian Personality (New York, Harper & Row).Google Scholar
Anderson, Benedict, 1983. Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism (London, Verso).Google Scholar
Ayoub, Phillip M., 2016. When States Come Out. Europe’s Sexual Minorities and the Politics of Visibility (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ayoub, Phillip M. and Chetaille, Agnès, 2020. “Movement/countermovement interaction and instrumental framing in a multi-level world: rooting Polish lesbian and gay activism,” Social Movement Studies, 19: 21-37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barrington, Lowell W., 1997. “‘Nation’ and ‘Nationalism’: The misuse of key concepts in Political Science,” PS: Political Science and Politics, 30: 712-716.Google Scholar
Bouton, Richard A., Gallaher, Peggy E., Garlinghouse, Paul A., Leal, Terri, Rosenstein, Leslie D. and Young, Robert K., 1989. “Demographic variables associated with fear of AIDS and homophobia,” Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 19: 885-901.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brubaker, Rogers and Cooper, Frederick, 2000. “Beyond ‘identity’,” Theory and Society, 29: 1-47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Catechism of the Catholic Church , (n.d.). Available at: www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_INDEX.HTM.Google Scholar
Charles, Nickie and Hintjens, Helen, 1998. Gender, Ethnicity and Political Ideologies (London, Routledge).Google Scholar
Cichocka, Aleksandra and Cislak, Aleksandra, 2020. “Nationalism as collective narcissism,” Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences, 34: 69-74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dasgupta, Nilanjana and Rivera, Luis M., 2006. “From automatic antigay prejudice to behavior: The moderating role of conscious beliefs about gender and behavioral control,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 91: 268-280.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ebert, Mirella, 2005. “The Catholic Church and Poland’s Accession to the European Union,” in Joseph, Drew, ed., Redefining Europe (Amsterdam/New York, Rodopi: 165-180).Google Scholar
Eurobarometer on Discrimination , 2019. Social Acceptance LGBTI People in the EU [https://ec.europa.eu/commfrontoffice/publicopinion/index.cfm/survey/getsurveydetail/instruments/special/surveyky/2251. Accessed 26 September 2019].Google Scholar
European Parliament , 2007. European Parliament Resolution of 26 April 2007 on Homophobia in Europe, 26 April 2007, P6_TA(2007).0167. [hhtp://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//TEXT+TA+P6-TA-2007-0167+0+DOC+XML+V0//EN].Google Scholar
Federico, Christopher, Golec de Zavala, Agnieszka and Baran, Tomasz, 2021. Collective Narcissism as a Basis for Nationalism [Under preparation].CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fox, Jon E. and Miller-Idriss, Cynthia 2002. “Everyday nationhood,” Ethnicities, 8: 536-576.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fromm, Erich, 1964. The Heart of Man: Its Genius for Good and Evil (New York, Harper and Row).Google Scholar
Gellner, Ernest, 1983. Nations and Nationalism (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press).Google Scholar
Gernand, Artur, 2019. Wybory do europarlamentu 2019. Jarosław Kaczyński na Podkarpaciu: Nasi przeciwnicy atakują dzieci. [2019 European Parliament Elections. Jarosław Kaczyński in Podkarpacie. Our opponents are attacking children.] wyborcza.pl, 9 March. [http://rzeszow.wyborcza.pl/rzeszow/7,34962,24532361], jaroslaw-kaczynski-na-podkarpaciu-o-ataku-przeciwnikow-pis-na.html. Accessed: 31 December 2019.Google Scholar
Golec de Zavala, Agnieszka and Bierwiaczonek, Kinga, 2020. Male, National, and Religious Collective Narcissism Predict Sexism. Sex Roles [Early View: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-020-01193-3].CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Golec de Zavala, Agnieszka and Lantos, Dorottya, 2020. “Collective Narcissism and Its Social Consequences: The Bad and the Ugly,” Current Directions in Psychological Science, 29: 273-278.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Golec de Zavala, Agnieszka, Dyduch-Hazar, Karolina and Lantos, Dorottya, 2019. “Collective Narcissism: Political Consequences of Investing Self-Worth in the Ingroup’s Image,” Advances in Political Psychology, 40: 37-74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Golec de Zavala, Agnieszka, Lantos, Dorottya and Keenan, Oliver, 2021. “Collective narcissism and the motivational underpinning of the populist backlash,” in Forgas, J., Crano, W. and Fiedler, K., eds, The Psychology of Populism (Oxon, Taylor & Francis: 105-122).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Golec de Zavala, Agnieszka, Cichocka, Aleksandra, Eidelson, Roy and Jayawickreme, Nuwan, 2009. “Collective narcissism and its social consequences,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 97: 1074-1096.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Górska, Anna, (n.d.). Kalendarium LESteśmy w Polsce [http://www.porozumienie.lesbijek.org/KalendariumLestesmyPolska.htm, accessed 22 September 2020].Google Scholar
Górska, Paulina and Mikołajczak, Małgorzata, 2015. Tradycyjne i nowoczesne uprzedzenia wobec osób homoseksualnych w Polsce [Traditional and contemporary prejudice towards homosexuals in Poland] in Stefaniak, A., Bilewicz, M. and Winiewski, M., eds, Uprzedzenia w Polsce [Prejudice in Poland] (Warszawa, Liberi Libri: 171-198).Google Scholar
Graff, Agnieszka, 2010. “Looking at pictures of gay men: political uses of homophobia in contemporary Poland,” Public Culture, 22: 583-603.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Graff, Agnieszka and Korolczuk, Elźbieta, 2017. “‘Worse than communism and nazism put together’: War on Gender in Poland,” in Paternotte, D. and Kuhar, R., eds, Anti-Gender Campaigns in Europe: Mobilizing against Equality (London, Rowman and Littlefield: 175-194).Google Scholar
Herek, Gregory M., 1986. On heterosexual masculinity: some psychical consequences of the social construction of gender and sexuality (American Behavioural Scientist, 29: 563-577).Google Scholar
Inglehart, Ronald and Baker, Wayne E., 2000. “Modernization, cultural change, and the persistence of traditional values,” American Sociological Review, 65: 19-51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Inglehart, Ronald and Norris, Pippa, 2016. “Trump, Brexit, and the Rise of Populism: Economic Have-Nots and Cultural Backlash,” SSRN Electronic Journal [https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2818659].CrossRefGoogle Scholar
John, Tara and Darwish, Muhammad, 2019. Polish city holds first LGBTQ pride parade despite far-right violence, CNN, 21 July [https://edition.cnn.com/2019/07/21/europe/bialystok-polish-lgbtq-pride-intl/index.html. Accessed 26 September 2019].Google Scholar
Kliszyński, Krzysztof, 2001. “A child of a young democracy: the Polish gay movement, 1989-1999,” in Flam, H., ed., Pink, Purple, Green: Women’s, Religious, Environmental and Gay/Lesbian Movements in Central Europe Today (New York, Columbia University Press: 161-168).Google Scholar
Kościańska, Agnieszka, 2020. Gender, Pleasure and Violence. The Construction of Expert Knowledge of Sexuality in Poland (Bloomington, Indiana University Press).Google Scholar
Kosterman, Rick and Feshbach, Seymour, 1989. “Toward a measure of patriotic and nationalistic attitudes,” Political Psychology, 10: 257-274.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mizielinska, Joanna, 2011. “Travelling Ideas, Travelling Times: On the Temporalities of LGBT and Queer Politics in Poland and the ‘West’,” in Kulpa, R. and Mizielinska, J. (eds), Decentring Western Sexualities. Central and Eastern European Perspectives (Farnham, Ashgate: 85-106).Google Scholar
Mole, Richard C. M., 2011. “Nationality and sexuality: homophobic discourse and the ‘national threat’ in contemporary Latvia,” Nations and Nationalism, 17: 540-560.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mole, Richard C. M., 2016. “Nationalism and homophobia in Central and Eastern Europe,” in Slootmaeckers, K., Touquet, H. and Vermeersch P., P., eds, The EU Enlargement and Lesbian and Gay Politics: The Impact of Eastern Enlargement on Rights, Activism and Prejudice (Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan: 99-121).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morrison, Melanie A. and Morrison, Todd G., 2002. “Development and validation of a scale measuring modern prejudice toward gay men and lesbian women,” Journal of Homosexuality, 43: 15-37.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mosse, George L. 1985. Nationalism and Sexuality: Respectability and Abnormal Sexuality in Modern Europe (New York, Howard Fertig).Google Scholar
Mosse, George L. 1996. The Image of Man: The Creation of Modern Masculinity (Oxford, Oxford University Press).Google Scholar
Mozaīka, , 2007. Homophobic Speech in Latvia: Monitoring the Politicians [www.ilga-europe.org/home/what_we_do/ilga_europe_as_a_funder/completed_projects/homophobic_hate_speech_in_latvia_monitoring_the_decision_makersi].Google Scholar
Mudde, Cas and Rovira Kaltwasser, Cristobal, 2017. Populism. A Very Short Introduction (Oxford, Oxford University Press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
n.a. (2019). “Party Leader Calls LGBT Rights an Imported Threat to Poland. Voice of America,” 25 April [www.voanews.com/europe/party-leader-calls-lgbt-rights-imported-threat-poland].Google Scholar
Nagel, Joane, 1998. “Masculinity and Nationalism: Gender and Sexuality in the Making of Nations,” Ethnic and Racial Studies, 21: 242-269.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nagel, Joane, 2000. “Ethnicity and sexuality,” Annual Review of Sociology, 26: 107-33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nagel, Joane, 2003. Race, Ethnicity and Sexuality. Intimate Intersections, Forbidden Frontiers (Oxford, Oxford University Press).Google Scholar
O’Dwyer, Conan and Vermeersch, Peter, 2016. “From Pride to Politics: Niche-Party Politics and LGBT Rights in Poland,” in Slootmaeckers, K., Touquet H, H. and Vermeersch, P., eds, The EU Enlargement and Lesbian and Gay Politics: The Impact of Eastern Enlargement on Rights, Activism and Prejudice (Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan: 123-145).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Puar, Jasbir K., 2007. Terrorist Assemblages: Homonationalism in Queer Times (Durham, NC, Duke University Press).Google Scholar
Salmela, Mikko and Scheve, Christian von, 2017. “Emotional roots of right-wing political populism,” Social Science Information, 56: 567-595.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schatz, Robert T., Ervin, Straub and Lavine, Howard, 1999. “On the Varieties of National Attachment: Blind Versus Constructive Patriotism,” Political Psychology, 20: 151-174.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Selinger, Marta, 2008. “Intolerance towards Gays and Lesbians in Poland,” Human Rights Review, 9: 15-27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Slootmaeckers, Koen, 2019. “Nationalism as competing masculinities: homophobia as a technology of othering for hetero- and homonationalism,” Theory and Society, 48: 239-265.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, Anthony D., 1986. The Ethnic Origin of Nations (Oxford, Blackwell).Google Scholar
Tomasik, Krzysztof, 2012. Gejerel. Mnieszości Seksualne w PRL-u (Warszawa, Krytyka Polityczna).Google Scholar
Watson, Peggy, 1993. “Eastern Europe’s silent revolution: gender,” Sociology, 27: 471-487.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weeks, Jeffrey, 1992. “Foreword,” in Schmitt, A. and Sofer, J., eds, Sexuality and Eroticism among Males in Moslem Societies (New York, Haworth Press: ix-xii).Google Scholar
Yuval-Davis, Nira, 1996. Gender and Nation (London, Sage).Google Scholar
Supplementary material: File

Mole et al. supplementary material

Online Appendix

Download Mole et al. supplementary material(File)
File 175.4 KB