Our aim in this article is to show the stance on solidarity present in a hybrid regime.
Taking Hungary as an example, we give individual-level explanations for attitudes
towards solidarity and inclusion/exclusion in times when populist parties are in power.
By creating typical solidarity groups, we explain who belongs to different solidarity
clusters and why, what political orientations can be linked to solidarity groups and
whether people’s attitudes reflect the values/solidarity conceptions propagated by
the Orbán government. With this, we point to the social and political polarization
of Hungarian society. We found that the appreciated, satisfied and politically trustful
far-right exclusive groups – independent of their social status – make up not only
the majority of society but also the crucial system-justifying basis of the Orbán
regime. However, in an ethnically rather homogeneous society foreigners could be seen
as cultural and economic threats to the decisive majority, including a significant
part of the inclusive groups.
