Only conservatives can be authoritarians. True or False

[dead0man]

This article in The Atlantic seems to insinuate that a lot of "educated" people think this is true.

Published last month in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, the Costello team’s paper is persuasive, to the point that you have to wonder: How could past researchers have overlooked left-wing authoritarianism for so long? “For 70 years, the lore in the social sciences has been that authoritarianism was to be found exclusively on the political right,” the Rutgers University social psychologist Lee Jussim, who wasn’t involved in the new study, told me in an email. In the 1950 book The Authoritarian Personality, an inquiry into the psychological makeup of people strongly drawn to autocratic rule and repressive politics, the German-born scholar Theodor W. Adorno and three other psychologists measured people along dimensions such as conformity to societal norms, rigid thinking, and sexual repression. And they concluded that “the authoritarian type of human”— the kind of person whose enthusiastic support allows someone like Hitler to exercise power—was found only among conservatives. In the mid-1990s, the influential Canadian psychologist Bob Altemeyer described left-wing authoritarianism as “the Loch Ness Monster of political psychology—an occasional shadow, but no monster. ” Subsequently, other psychologists reached the same conclusion.

Obviously this is a crazy idea to me, ya know, because I talk to you people everyday and many of you are clearly very authoritarian.  Plus, ya know, the PRC, the Soviet Union, Australia, etc.

Anyway, interesting article that will be avoided by the people who need to read it and nodded along with by everyone else.

[AtorBoltox]

This article in The Atlantic seems to insinuate that a lot of "educated" people think this is true.

Published last month in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, the Costello team’s paper is persuasive, to the point that you have to wonder: How could past researchers have overlooked left-wing authoritarianism for so long? “For 70 years, the lore in the social sciences has been that authoritarianism was to be found exclusively on the political right,” the Rutgers University social psychologist Lee Jussim, who wasn’t involved in the new study, told me in an email. In the 1950 book The Authoritarian Personality, an inquiry into the psychological makeup of people strongly drawn to autocratic rule and repressive politics, the German-born scholar Theodor W. Adorno and three other psychologists measured people along dimensions such as conformity to societal norms, rigid thinking, and sexual repression. And they concluded that “the authoritarian type of human”— the kind of person whose enthusiastic support allows someone like Hitler to exercise power—was found only among conservatives. In the mid-1990s, the influential Canadian psychologist Bob Altemeyer described left-wing authoritarianism as “the Loch Ness Monster of political psychology—an occasional shadow, but no monster. ” Subsequently, other psychologists reached the same conclusion.

Obviously this is a crazy idea to me, ya know, because I talk to you people everyday and many of your are clearly very authoritarian.  Plus, ya know, the PRC, the Soviet Union, Australia, etc.

Anyway, interesting article that will be avoided by the people who need to read it and nodded along with by everyone else.

bahahahahahah

[Continential]

Australia currently has a Liberal-National Coalition Prime Minister, Scott Morrison who is a conservative.

[dead0man]

come on guys, it was clearly at least 60% a joke.  Any thoughts on the meat of it?

[Cassius]

The application of social psychology to politics (to most things in fact) is essentially the modern equivalent of claiming that your opponents are in regular communication with the goat-headed man.

[Vice President Christian Man]

False; authoritarianism knows no ideology.

[beaver2.0]

This is one of the most moronic "articles" ever written.

[dead0man]

This is one of the most moronic "articles" ever written.

that seems highly unlikely, but maybe we could see it your way if you explained yourself a little?

[HisGrace]

False; authoritarianism knows no ideology.

Exactly right, there may be the veneer of an ideology to attract followers but for authoritarians it's always about power.

Let's remember that the next time Kendi or someone else on woke Twitter uses the "It's about power, not people" buzzword.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

"...the lore in the social sciences" lmao

[beaver2.0]

This is one of the most moronic "articles" ever written.

that seems highly unlikely, but maybe we could see it your way if you explained yourself a little?

I misunderstood the article here.  I thought the article was saying that only conservatives can be authoritarians, which is what is moronic to me.  I'll amend my statement: "The people referenced in this article are some of the most moronic people to ever exist."

[YL]

It's quite clear from the introduction to Altemeyer's The Authoritarians that he doesn't think that "only conservatives can be authoritarians".

I don't think he has the same idea of what the word "authoritarian" means as the OP, though.

[dead0man]

It's quite clear from the introduction to Altemeyer's The Authoritarians that he doesn't think that "only conservatives can be authoritarians".

I don't think he has the same idea of what the word "authoritarian" means as the OP, though.

what do you think the differences are?

[The Last Kennedy]

I do think that the concept of authoritarianism is more than just a government repressing its people, it is also making people do things through threats or coercion of some sort. You don't need guns to bully people, you can threaten and demean them by making them feel less human. Left-wing people don't realize that not everyone can be accepting of their idealism and so often have to result to intimidate people with words and guilt. When people stop responding to the intimidation and guilt then it doesn't really work anymore.

[YL]

It's quite clear from the introduction to Altemeyer's The Authoritarians that he doesn't think that "only conservatives can be authoritarians".

I don't think he has the same idea of what the word "authoritarian" means as the OP, though.

what do you think the differences are?

"...I talk to you people everyday and many of you are clearly very authoritarian."

Not an impression I get of the left-leaning members of this forum, thinking in terms of what Altemeyer means by it.

What do you think the word means?  Simply "not libertarian" (for your definition of that word), or is there more to it?

[dead0man]

It's quite clear from the introduction to Altemeyer's The Authoritarians that he doesn't think that "only conservatives can be authoritarians".

I don't think he has the same idea of what the word "authoritarian" means as the OP, though.

what do you think the differences are?

"...I talk to you people everyday and many of you are clearly very authoritarian."

Not an impression I get of the left-leaning members of this forum, thinking in terms of what Altemeyer means by it.

What do you think the word means?  Simply "not libertarian" (for your definition of that word), or is there more to it?

favoring or enforcing strict obedience to authority, especially that of the government, at the expense of personal freedom.

[Mad Deadly Worldwide Communist Gangster Computer God]

False/left-leaning.

Whether it's theocratic policing of what people do in their bedrooms, fascism, state communism, or 'soccer mommery', authoritarian attitudes can be found on all parts of the spectrum. Being a leftist does not make one a liberal.

[Meclazine for Israel]

Take a look at the lefties filming Sinema outside a public toilet.

[dead0man]

For some reason, this one of those rare polls where it seems Atlas has more non-lefties than lefties.  Weird.

[All Along The Watchtower]

*looks at literally every Communist-controlled country ever*

Good one!

[Schiff for Senate]

False (sane)

[Associate Justice PiT]

The application of social psychology to politics (to most things in fact) is essentially the modern equivalent of claiming that your opponents are in regular communication with the goat-headed man.

     This reminds me that part of what led Jonathan Haidt to develop his moral foundations typology was a desire to look beyond simplistic literature that implicitly approached conservatism as a category error that needed to be diagnosed and treated. Ideas that propose authoritarianism as something inherently right-wing may be totally wrong, but they do serve to demonstrate an important truth that highly educated individuals are still prone to errors that favor their ideological precepts and don't have some window into the distilled and unquestionable reality.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

The application of social psychology to politics (to most things in fact) is essentially the modern equivalent of claiming that your opponents are in regular communication with the goat-headed man.

     This reminds me that part of what led Jonathan Haidt to develop his moral foundations typology was a desire to look beyond simplistic literature that implicitly approached conservatism as a category error that needed to be diagnosed and treated. Ideas that propose authoritarianism as something inherently right-wing may be totally wrong, but they do serve to demonstrate an important truth that highly educated individuals are still prone to errors that favor their ideological precepts and don't have some window into the distilled and unquestionable reality.

Well, you don't suddenly become impervious to incorrect ideologically-slanted positioning and misguided beliefs just because you have a college diploma.
In fact, while you might be less likely to fall prey to the less sophisticated forms of the like, once you do cross that barrier, you might be more stubborn in believing in them when shown evidence, because you thinking yourself to be "educated" makes it hard for you to accept that you fell prey to such things in the first place.

[All Along The Watchtower]

False; authoritarianism knows no ideology.

This non-ideologue agrees.

[beesley]

False; authoritarianism knows no ideology.

This is true, and the same could be said about populism.