Deficit Before Dishonor: The Unique Role of Honor Culture Endorsement in Motivating Support for Protectionist Economic Policy

Abstract

Support for protectionist economic policies has grown in the United States despite extensive evidence documenting their long-term economic drawbacks. Although previous research has primarily explained support for protectionism through ideological orientations or economic considerations, the present research examines whether endorsement of the culture of honor provides a broader psychological framework for understanding these attitudes. Across three studies, this research investigated the role of honor endorsement in predicting support for protectionist economic policies and identified the psychological processes through which this relationship emerges. Study 1 demonstrated that honor endorsement predicted protectionist attitudes above and beyond political conservatism, right-wing authoritarianism, and social dominance orientation. Study 1 also examined associations between honor endorsement and several proposed correlates of protectionism, including in-group bias, national self-reliance, national reputation concerns, perceived economic threat, and evaluations of international trade governance. Study 2 tested whether national self-reliance and reputation concerns explain the relationship between honor endorsement and protectionism. Study 3 experimentally manipulated perceptions of national economic threat to examine how threat influences support for protectionist policies and whether these effects are moderated by honor endorsement. Across all three studies, honor endorsement was consistently associated with stronger support for protectionist policies. Collectively, the findings suggest that honor culture functions as a distal cultural orientation that shapes concerns about national independence, reputation, and economic vulnerability, thereby providing a broader psychological framework for understanding support for protectionist economic policies beyond traditional ideological explanations.