Belief in the Round Table conspiracy and political division in Poland
Author(s) / Creator(s)
Kofta, Mirosław
Soral, Wiktor
Abstract / Description
The functions of the conspiracy theory surrounding the ’89 Round Table in present-day political life are discussed. In the online research conducted in 2018 on a representative sample of Polish citizens, we found that attitudes towards the Round Table are an important marker of the fundamental political division in Poland. Those who supported the current rule of PiS (with a nationalistic-authoritarian orientation) agreed with the ’89 Round Table conspiracy theory, whereas those who supported the liberal opposition against PiS rejected the ’89 Round Table conspiracy theory. Moreover, believers in the Round Table conspiracy appeared to trust politicians and justify the system to a higher degree than those who rejected this conspiracy theory. We also found that endorsement of the conspiracy theory of the ’89 Round Table was significantly associated with the stability of voting preferences. Among those who voted for PiS, conspiracy theory believers formed a stable electorate, whereas among those who voted for parties with a liberal orientation, theory believers were likely to change their voting preferences. Thus, belief in the discussed conspiracy is not only a part of some ideological landscape but also has direct behavioral consequences. The social-psychological reasons for the growing popularity of the ’89 Round Table conspiracy theory are discussed.
Keyword(s)
the Round Table conspiracy voting preferences trust system justificationPersistent Identifier
Date of first publication
2020-03-11
Journal title
Social Psychological Bulletin
Volume
14
Issue
4
Article number
Article e2435
Publisher
PsychOpen GOLD
Publication status
publishedVersion
Review status
peerReviewed
Is version of
Citation
Kofta, M., & Soral, W. (2020). Belief in the Round Table conspiracy and political division in Poland. Social Psychological Bulletin, 14(4), Article e2435. https://doi.org/10.32872/spb.v14i4.2435
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Author(s) / Creator(s)Kofta, Mirosław
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Author(s) / Creator(s)Soral, Wiktor
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PsychArchives acquisition timestamp2022-04-14T11:27:11Z
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Made available on2022-04-14T11:27:11Z
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Date of first publication2020-03-11
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Abstract / DescriptionThe functions of the conspiracy theory surrounding the ’89 Round Table in present-day political life are discussed. In the online research conducted in 2018 on a representative sample of Polish citizens, we found that attitudes towards the Round Table are an important marker of the fundamental political division in Poland. Those who supported the current rule of PiS (with a nationalistic-authoritarian orientation) agreed with the ’89 Round Table conspiracy theory, whereas those who supported the liberal opposition against PiS rejected the ’89 Round Table conspiracy theory. Moreover, believers in the Round Table conspiracy appeared to trust politicians and justify the system to a higher degree than those who rejected this conspiracy theory. We also found that endorsement of the conspiracy theory of the ’89 Round Table was significantly associated with the stability of voting preferences. Among those who voted for PiS, conspiracy theory believers formed a stable electorate, whereas among those who voted for parties with a liberal orientation, theory believers were likely to change their voting preferences. Thus, belief in the discussed conspiracy is not only a part of some ideological landscape but also has direct behavioral consequences. The social-psychological reasons for the growing popularity of the ’89 Round Table conspiracy theory are discussed.en_US
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Publication statuspublishedVersion
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Review statuspeerReviewed
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CitationKofta, M., & Soral, W. (2020). Belief in the Round Table conspiracy and political division in Poland. Social Psychological Bulletin, 14(4), Article e2435. https://doi.org/10.32872/spb.v14i4.2435en_US
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ISSN2569-653X
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Persistent Identifierhttps://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12034/5838
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Persistent Identifierhttps://doi.org/10.23668/psycharchives.6442
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Language of contenteng
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PublisherPsychOpen GOLD
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Is version ofhttps://doi.org/10.32872/spb.v14i4.2435
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Is related tohttps://doi.org/10.23668/psycharchives.2767
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Keyword(s)the Round Table conspiracyen_US
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Keyword(s)voting preferencesen_US
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Keyword(s)trusten_US
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Keyword(s)system justificationen_US
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Dewey Decimal Classification number(s)150
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TitleBelief in the Round Table conspiracy and political division in Polanden_US
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DRO typearticle
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Article numberArticle e2435
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Issue4
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Journal titleSocial Psychological Bulletin
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Volume14
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Visible tag(s)Version of Recorden_US