The reverse post-material thesis or reverse post-materialism thesis is an academic theory used to explain support for far-right political parties and right-wing populist political parties. The thesis is modelled on the post-material thesis from sociology that has been used to explain the shift in Western societies from traditional economic interests towards issues such as environmentalism and feminism.

Core premise

The thesis begins from the premise that, during the 1970s and 1980s, centre-left parties embraced a post-material agenda, with less concern for traditional class and economic interests and greater concern for issues such as

feminism Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...

environmentalism Environmentalism is a broad philosophy, ideology, and social movement about supporting life, habitats, and surroundings. While environmentalism focuses more on the environmental and nature-related aspects of green ideology and politics, ecolog ...

, liberal internationalist values, and

LGBT rights Rights affecting lesbian, Gay men, gay, Bisexuality, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) people vary greatly by country or jurisdiction—encompassing everything from the legal recognition of same-sex marriage to the Capital punishmen ...

and other sexual freedoms. Bornschier argues that the "populist right’s ideological core consists of opposition to the process of societal modernization that has accelerated since the 1960s". According to this thesis, this post-material agenda, while more likely to appeal to the young and the more educated voters, is seen as irrelevant to material concerns, particularly of working-class unskilled males.

Criticism

Roger Eatwell argues that the reverse post-material thesis is insufficient to explain local variations in support for extreme-right parties — for instance, to explain why the

British National Party The British National Party (BNP) is a Far-right politics, far-right, British fascism, fascist list of political parties in the United Kingdom, political party in the United Kingdom. It is headquartered in Wigton, Cumbria, and is led by Adam ...

did well in Oldham at the 2001 General Election but relatively poorly in neighbouring Blackburn. Merkel and Weinberg argue that, in Europe, post-material values are strongest in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

Scandinavia Scandinavia is a subregion#Europe, subregion of northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. It can sometimes also ...

, and the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

, but as the extreme-right is generally weaker in these countries, the post-material thesis is insufficient on its own as an explanation for far-right support. Pisoiu and Ahmed argue that the French National Front and Flemish Interest ( Vlaams Belang) in fact have an anti-materialist philosophy that prioritises political issues over economic concerns.Pisoiu, D. and Ahmed, R. (2016), 'Capitalising on Fear: The Rise of Right-Wing Populist Movements in Western Europe', OSCE Yearbook 2015, Baden-Baden 2016, p. 173

References

{{extremeright Far-right politics Political theories Historical materialism Right-wing politics Theories of political behavior