A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal
Two Kinds of “Woke”? Psychometric Validation of the Critical Right Scale and Revised Critical Social Justice Attitudes Scale
Authors: Lahtinen, Oskari
Publisher: Wiley
Publication year: 2026
Journal: Scandinavian Journal of Psychology
Article number: sjop.70070
ISSN: 0036-5564
eISSN: 1467-9450
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/sjop.70070
Publication's open availability at the time of reporting: Open Access
Publication channel's open availability : Partially Open Access publication channel
Web address : https://doi.org/10.1111/sjop.70070
Self-archived copy’s web address: https://research.utu.fi/converis/portal/detail/Publication/508590513
Self-archived copy's licence: CC BY
Self-archived copy's version: Publisher`s PDF
This study developed and validated the Critical Right Scale (CRS) to measure emerging critical right attitudes and revised the Critical Social Justice Attitudes Scale (CSJAS-R), replicating its psychometric evaluation. A nationwide convenience sample of Finnish adults (n = 626) completed an online survey. Item screening used exploratory factor analysis with oblique rotation and loading and residual correlation criteria. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and measurement invariance testing were conducted in lavaan using full information maximum likelihood. The final CRS consisted of five items with high reliability (α = 0.89, ω = 0.90) and good model fit in both male and female subsamples, with pooled-sample residual misfit judged minor given subgroup results. The CSJAS-R comprised six items with strong reliability (α = 0.88, ω = 0.89) and excellent fit. Both scales met configural and metric invariance; partial scalar invariance was achieved after freeing a small number of item intercepts. CRS scores were strongly associated with right-wing and conservative self-placement with higher scores concentrated among Finns Party and Christian Democrat voters, and weakly linked to perceived oppression. CSJAS-R scores were strongly associated with left-wing and liberal self-placement with higher scores concentrated among Left Alliance and Greens voters, had a small-to-moderately associated with justification of political violence. CRS and CSJAS-R were strongly negatively correlated (r = −0.62), indicating divergent validity. Both CRS and CSJAS-R demonstrated strong psychometric properties and distinct ideological profiles, providing validated tools for studying political attitude structures at opposing ends of the ideological spectrum.
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Funding information in the publication:
The author has nothing to report. Open access publishing facilitated by Turun yliopisto, as part of the Wiley - FinELib agreement.