Openness of the Public to Right-Wing Extremism and Social Distance to Minorities

Abstract

Abstract The article informs of the results of research for the Ministry of Interior of the Czech Republic. Its main aim was to state the measure of risk of right-wing extremism in the Czech Republic and to define the most endangered groups. One of the phases of the project was a questionnaire research (n = 2056, population older than 15 years, probability selection). Through personal interviews has been found that in the Czech Republic there are 2.5 % of inhabitants who share ultra-right ideas and they are willing to support the parties offering a radical solution only with their votes. People sharing ideas characteristic of right-wing extremism and at the same time willing to actively support a party offering a radical solution represent 6 %. From the research then results that the main risk from the viewpoint of the fight against right-wing extremism is represented by the second mentioned group. Both high-risk groups show the highest measure of social distance to the Jews, black people and the Ukrainians, but also to homosexuals. The high-risk group is statistically significantly more distant to the Romas as well. The Romas represent the group that the studied high-risk groups perceive with the biggest antagonism.