Background: the silent revolution
Inglehart (1971) argued that generations raised amid postwar economic security came to hold post-materialist values prizing self-expression and autonomy over material security. This silent revolution spread progressive agendas such as gender equality, LGBT rights, multiculturalism and environmental protection. Kriesi and colleagues (2006) showed that globalization produced winners and losers and a new cultural cleavage in European political space.
The mechanism of backlash
Inglehart and Norris (2017) explained that as progressive values became mainstream, groups holding traditional values, such as older cohorts, men, the less educated and rural residents, came to feel like strangers in their own culture. They called this the silent revolution in reverse. Norris and Inglehart (2019) argued that the backlash drove support for Trump, Brexit and authoritarian populist parties in Europe. Bornschier (2010) likewise saw the new cultural conflict as the base of right-wing populist parties.
Evidence and critiques
Mutz (2018) reported that in the 2016 US election dominant-group status threat explained vote choice better than economic hardship. Gidron and Hall (2017) bridged the accounts, showing that both economic and cultural change lower subjective social status and feed support for the populist right. Critics argue the theory underrates economic insecurity and that its prediction that backlash will fade with generational replacement is too simple.
FAQ
- What is cultural backlash theory in simple terms?
- As society became progressive quickly, people with traditional values felt left behind and reacted by backing authoritarian populist politicians.
- How does it differ from economic explanations?
- Economic accounts point to job loss and falling income, while cultural backlash theory stresses threats to values and status as the more important cause.
Sources reviewed: 2026-10-26
References
- Inglehart, R. (1971). The silent revolution in Europe: Intergenerational change in post-industrial societies. American Political Science Review, 65(4), 991–1017. The silent revolution.
- Kriesi, H., Grande, E., Lachat, R., Dolezal, M., Bornschier, S., & Frey, T. (2006). Globalization and the transformation of the national political space: Six European countries compared. European Journal of Political Research, 45(6), 921–956. Globalization winners and losers.
- Bornschier, S. (2010). Cleavage politics and the populist right: The new cultural conflict in Western Europe. Temple University Press. New cultural conflict.
- Inglehart, R., & Norris, P. (2017). Trump and the populist authoritarian parties: The silent revolution in reverse. Perspectives on Politics, 15(2), 443–454. The silent revolution in reverse.
- Gidron, N., & Hall, P. A. (2017). The politics of social status: Economic and cultural roots of the populist right. The British Journal of Sociology, 68(S1), S57–S84. Status links economics and culture.
- Mutz, D. C. (2018). Status threat, not economic hardship, explains the 2016 presidential vote. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 115(19), E4330–E4339. Status threat over economic hardship.
- Norris, P., & Inglehart, R. (2019). Cultural backlash: Trump, Brexit, and authoritarian populism. Cambridge University Press. The full statement of the theory.