Axiological Factors as Motives for Political Action

Abstract

The present thesis considers what motivates people to participate in political action. Specifically, it seeks to explain how moral concerns shape the intentions to participate in a) collective action and b) extremism. The former is thought to be explained by moral obligation, understood as the motivation to act accordingly with moral values. The latter is anticipated to be motivated by monopoly on truth (MoT), the belief that ones own ideas are objectively better for everyone. The results corroborate that moral obligation and MoT predict collective action and extremist engagement, respectively. This confirms the contribution of the thesis to the literature by adding an axiological path to political action.