It will take weeks or months to fully parse Donald J. Trump’s upset presidential victory, but his campaign was driven, at least in part, by the dramatic rise of a new kind of white populism.

It has fueled turmoil in the United States and Europe, including not just Mr. Trump’s election to the presidency, but Britain’s vote in June to leave the European Union and the rise of anti-immigrant, populist political parties across much of Continental Europe.

I have spent the past year investigating the rise of that new kind of populism — a majoritarian backlash — including speaking to dozens of social scientists and gathering original data. And while their research varies, their conclusions all converged on three key factors that explain what is taking place: fear of social change; fear of terrorist attacks and other physical threats; and the crisis of identity that many whites are experiencing as they struggle to maintain their position.

Fears of social change

The first is rising fear of social change. Marc Hetherington, a Vanderbilt University political scientist who focuses on polarization and authoritarianism in American politics, explained to me earlier this year that it’s important to remember that recent decades in the United States and Europe have been tumultuous.