2026/01/02 by Michael Wenzel, Michael J. A. Wohl, Anna C. Barron +2 · 1 voice
Engineering · Social Sciences · #Indigenous Health, Education, and Rights #Mining and Resource Management #Social and Intergroup Psychology
paper · doi:10.1111/pops.70103
openalex created_date 2026/01/02 · openalex publication_date 2026/01/02 · openalex updated_date 2026/05/21
Abstract Public policies designed to empower historically victimized groups rely on support from members of the perpetrator group (the dominant majority), who may wrestle with two concerns: a collective angst for the future vitality (continuity, prosperity) of their national ingroup and an empathetic collective angst for the future vitality of the victim group. A two‐wave survey of non‐Indigenous Australians ( N = 797/410) pre and post the 2023 Australian referendum on constitutionally enshrining a parliamentary “Voice” for its Indigenous peoples showed that collective angst was negatively, and empathetic collective angst positively, related to intending to vote “Yes” if the “Voice” was seen to have material implications. Latent true change modeling showed that participants who voted “Yes” (relative to “No”) felt, following the failure of the referendum, increased collective and empathetic collective angst. The findings highlight the role of existential collective concerns and how these shape, and are shaped by, political processes.