Progressive purity: ressentiment and derogation of dissent

Magazin, Elena 2025. Progressive purity: ressentiment and derogation of dissent. PhD Thesis, Cardiff University. Item availability restricted.

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Abstract

This thesis presents contributions to the field of political psychology by extending understandings of a ressentiment narrative by considering it in the context of a progressive identity. In the first two contribution chapters, ressentiment (conceptualised as victimhood, self-aggrandisement and high-status other derogation) was shown to play a significant role in shaping a progressive identity. Moreover, network analyses carried out in Chapter 2 revealed that amongst left-wing students, progressive values were connected to a ressentiment narrative towards economic elites and ideological purity concerns. Chapter 3 broadened the investigation to more diverse samples in the US and UK, examining how a ressentiment narrative manifests across different ethnic and income groups. We found that within a ressentiment narrative, privileged Progressives expanded definitions of harm allowing for the assumption of victimhood, reinforcing moral superiority relative to other economic elites. Meanwhile, for lower income left-wingers ressentiment was connected to expressions of grievance. Altogether Chapters 2 and 3 provide new insights into the socio-economic dynamics of left-wing divisions offering potential practical implications for consensus building on the Left. Chapters 4 and 5 focused on the other-derogation facet of ressentiment by investigating how Progressives and Traditional Liberals would perceive an in-group dissenter on the topic of gender identity. Using both examples of public figures and abstract descriptions, Progressives were found to derogate dissenters more, relative to Traditional Liberals who displayed greater tolerance. Chapter 5 further examined whether Progressives would have a lower threshold for what they consider dissent by introducing a boundary category (i.e., ambivalence). Findings revealed that while Progressives did not construe ambivalence as dissent, they were less tolerant than Traditional Liberals but only when dissent was publicly expressed (rather than abstractly described). Overall, those findings suggest a lowered Progressive tolerance for dissent which simultaneously betrays a desire for ideological purity to maintain a ressentiment narrative.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Date Type:	Completion
Status:	Unpublished
Schools:	Schools > Psychology
Funders:	ESRC
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	14 April 2026
Last Modified:	14 Apr 2026 16:07
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/186338

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