One way of explaining the current surge of populism is to look into how collective narcissism – the belief that one’s own group is exceptional and entitled to privileged treatment – appears and manifests. 

Collective narcissists usually resent others for not appreciating their group enough. They idealise their own group and ask for special recognition from others for their own group’s past glory, incomparable morality, cultural sophistication, economic or military might, God’s love, or even the group’s exceptional suffering and martyrdom. Whatever reason they claim for privilege, collective narcissists always fear and depreciate other groups. 

In its research, the PrejudiceLab at Goldsmiths University  linked collective narcissism to adopting an antagonistic stance in intergroup conflicts, intergroup hostility and prejudice against minorities. For example, two studies I worked on showed that the Brexit campaign rhetoric in the UK appealed to a sense of national collective narcissism, by rejecting immigrants and perceiving them as a threat to British economic superiority and the British way of life. In Poland, national collective narcissism is associated with homophobia because gay men are perceived as a threat to national values, and gay women are seen as a threat to national survival. Collective narcissism is also related to denying necessary help to those who need it because they are construed as ‘alien’ and a threat. An obvious instance of this was groups of Europeans’ rejection of Syrian refugees because of their perception that they might be dangerous.