Contents
Preface
1. Introduction: The Authoritarian Dynamic
The Concept of Authoritarianism
The Philosophy of the Book
Data, Methods, Models and Literature: What To Expect
Organization of the Book
2. Kindred Spirits, Common Spark: The Theory of the Authoritarian Dynamic
Unresolved Issues
What It Is
Where It Comes From
What It Does
When It Does It
How Best To Measure It
Societal Threat and Authoritarianism
Relevant Arguments
Relevant Evidence
Reconciling Existing Arguments and Evidence With the Authoritarian Dynamic
Direct Evidence on the Authoritarian Dynamic
Threat and Constraint in the Intolerance Domain
3. Manipulating Threat and Reassurance: Data and Methods
The Durham Community Survey 1997
The Multi-Investigator Study 1999
The Cultural Revolution Experiment 1995
4. The Authoritarian Dynamic and the Politics of Fear: Putting the Pieces of the Puzzle
Together
The Authoritarian Dynamic: An Initial Demonstration
Experimental Manipulation of the Authoritarian Dynamic
Replication on Survey Data: A Real World Phenomenon
Solving the Puzzle
Viewed From the Other Angle: It Depends on the Individual
One Dimension, Two Characters, Same Battle
What Makes the World Feel Dangerous?
Replication on Survey Data: Naturally Occurring Perceptions
The Special Status of Normative Threat
Addressing Likely Misconceptions of the Theory
Contemporaneous Perceptions v. Persistent Beliefs
Normative Threat, Collective Threat and Personal Threat
Not Merely Partisanship, Not Just Persistent Fearfulness
Authoritarian Predisposition v. Authoritarian Attitudes
A Very Specific Process
Stability and Constraint
Relative Stability of Major Predispositions
Latent Predispositions and Their Manifest Expressions
A Fundamental Predisposition Exercising Unusual Constraint
What Have We Learned?
5. Authoritarianism and Conservatism Across Cultures
Authoritarianism, Status Quo Conservatism, and Laissez Faire Conservatism
Political Psychology v. Political Ideology
'Right-Wing Extremism': Extremely What? Extreme How?
Measures With Confused and Shifting Content
The Plan of Attack
Authoritarianism ? Conservatism
A Comparative Investigation: In Search of Generalities
'Bare Bones' Measures of Authoritarianism and Status Quo Conservatism
Universal Measures of Intolerance
Authoritarianism v. Status Quo Conservatism in Western Europe
Britain
Denmark
Italy
France
West Germany
Authoritarianism v. Status Quo Conservatism in Eastern Europe
Romania
East Germany
Czechslovakia
Yugoslavia
A Common Source and a Universal Process
Measurement Error and the Apparently Varying Influence of Authoritarianism
Unreliability of Authoritarianism Measure
Varying Impact of Authoritarianism More Apparent Than Real
Varying Impact of Authoritarianism Partly Real
Unreliability of Racial Intolerance Measure
Varying Power of Authoritarianism Partly an Artifact
Varying Power of Authoritarianism Partly Real
A Parsimonious Account of General Intolerance of Difference
A Dataset Representative of the World Population
The List of Competitors: Rival Explanatory Variables
Authoritarianism the Primary Determinant of Worldwide Intolerance
Disentangling the 'Essence' of Education
Status Quo and Laissez Faire Conservatism Not Generally Influential
Explaining the Explanatory Gap
The Future of Intolerance
6. Authoritarianism and Conservatism: How They Differ and When It Matters
Prior Research on Origins of Authoritarianism and Status Quo Conservatism
Group Identification v. General 'Group-iness'
Subcultural Expressions of Authoritarianism
Same Form and Function: A System of Collective Constraint
Fear, Insecurity, Isolation, Meaninglessness
Personality Factors: 'Openness to Experience' and 'Conscientiousness'
Innate and Stable Disposition? The Heritability of Personality
Cognitive Factors: Deficiencies in Capacity, Knowledge, Reasoning
The Ambiguous Effects of Education
Childhood Socialization: Rigid Upbringing and Parental Punitiveness
Altemeyer and 'Social Learning'
A Subtle But Critical Distinction
Prior Research on Origins of Laissez Faire Conservatism
The Primacy and Independence of Freedom and Equality
Terminal v. Instrumental Values
Distinctive Determinants of Laissez Faire Conservatism v. Authoritarianism
Simple Models of Authoritarianism and Conservatism
Major Sources of Authoritarianism
Major Sources of Laissez Faire Conservatism
Major Sources of Status Quo Conservatism
Fully Specified Model of Authoritarianism and Status Quo Conservatism
Modest Reciprocity and Differing Determinants
Clarifying the Effects of Education
Validity of Authoritarianism Measure: Childrearing Values ? Childrearing Practices
Nature or Nurture? Identical Germanies Reared Apart
Authoritarianism and 'Political Conservatism' As Distinct Predispositions
Measures of Authoritarianism and Political Conservatism
But What Is Political Conservatism?
Fully Specified Model of Authoritarianism and Political Conservatism
Clarifying the Roles of Personality, Cognition and Childhood Socialization
Childrearing Values ? Childrearing Practices, Revisited
General Overview of Findings
What's in the Mix? The Content of Political Conservatism
The Contingent Relationship of Authoritarianism and Political Conservatism
Authoritarianism v. Conservatism: Difference Across Space v. Difference Over Time
Engineering a Realignment: 'Changing Together' v. 'Stable Diversity'
Authoritarianism v. Conservatism: Intervention By Whom and To What Ends?
Setting Authoritarians and Conservatives At Odds
'Left-Wing' Authoritarians and 'Right-Wing' Libertarians
Authoritarianism and Political Conservatism As Sources of Intolerance
Mobilizing and Employing v. Generating Intolerance
Data and Measures
Authoritarianism the Primary Determinant of U.S. Intolerance, and Growing
Changing Racial Norms Alter the Intolerant 'Yield' of Conservatism
The Final Account
7. One True People: Putting a Face on the Theory
The Roles of the Primary Interviewer and Interview Partner
The Primary Interviewer
The Interview Partner
Race of Interviewers
Attempts to Obtain the Interview
Self-Interest, Suspicion and Hostility Toward Strangers
Impressions From the Interview
It's About Responsibility
Closed-Minded and Unintelligent, Unnerved and Unappealing
Overall Characteristics of the Discussion
Cognitive Complexity of the Discussion
Distinctive Themes of the Discussion
Implicit Aggression in the Discussion
Spontaneous Revelation of Distinctions Between the Characters
Interview Conduct and Interactions
You'd Have To Pay Me To Do That
Anxiety and Avoidance
You Don't Want To Know What I Really Think
A Level of Comfort
Personality and Demeanor
Happy, Active and Gregarious
An Intimidating Character
Warm and Friendly, Open and Excitable
Bitter and Unfriendly
Cognitive Capacity
Complex, Thoughtful and Eloquent
Simplistic, Unsophisticated and Inarticulate
Uneasy Conclusions
8. One Right Way: Fleshing Out the Portrait
Racial Animosity, Prejudice and Discrimination
Liberal Democratic Norms and Political Correctness
Authoritarians Know the Norms
The Best That They Could Manage
Talking Amongst Ourselves
Interracial Contact
Who Is To Blame?
Ethnocentrism, Patriotism and Politics
Patriotism or Ethnocentrism?
Political Disengagement and Anti-Democratic Sentiment
'Super-Patriotism'
Morality and Discipline, Crime and Punishment
What Moral Decay? Airing the Dirty Laundry in Public
Crime Has a Black Face: Race and Crime in the Sub-Conscious
The Impending Crisis of Morality
Moral Discipline: Governmental Regulation and Public Education
The Failure of Families
Conclusion: Two Distinguished Characters
9. Manning the Barricades: Racism and Intolerance Under Conditions of Normative
Threat
The Costs of a Narrow Perspective
Missing Important Commonalities
Misattributing Effects
Neither Target Nor Domain Specific
The Expression v. Generation of Intolerance
Difference-ism: The Generality and Primacy of Aversion to Difference
Changing Conceptions of 'Us' and 'Them'
A New and Even More Different 'Them': The Malleable Boundaries of 'Us'
Defending Some Oneness, Not Some One
Experimental Manipulation of the Authoritarian Dynamic
Activation of the Predisposition Under Normative Threat
Varying Reliability: Calling Up, and Calming Down a Latent Predisposition
Clueless or Fearless? What to Make of Unreliability
Enhanced Effects of Authoritarianism Under Normative Threat
Racial Intolerance
Political Intolerance
Moral Intolerance
Punitiveness
Overview of Findings
Replication on Survey Data: Varying Public Discord Across Cultures and Time
Normative Threat and Attitudinal Constraint
The Politics of Ideas v. The Politics of Fear
10. The Authoritarian Dynamic: Implications
The Political Psychology of Intolerance
Authoritarianism v. Status Quo Conservatism: Conservatives As Defenders of Freedom
Authoritarianism v. Laissez Faire Conservatism: Authoritarians As Social Reformers
Accepting and Working With Difference-ism
The Science v. Religion of Democracy
Community Requires Community
The Paradox of American Democracy
'Stealth Democracy': Less Is More
Democracy Is Bad for the Anti-Democrat
Democracy Is Its Own Undoing