authoritarian personality
- authoritarian personality
A term coined by Theodor
Adorno and his associates through a book of the same name first published in 1950, to describe a personality type characterized by (among other things) extreme conformity, submissiveness to authority, rigidity, and arrogance towards those considered inferior.
Adorno was a member of the Frankfurt School who fled the Third Reich, first to Britain and then to the United States, where he conducted extensive empirical research on the anti-semitic, ethnocentric, and fascist personalities. In attempting to explain why some people are more susceptible to
fascism and authoritarian belief-systems than are others, Adorno devised several Likert attitude scales which revealed a clustering of traits which he termed authoritarianism. Several scales were constructed (ethnocentric, anti-semitic, fascist) and part of the interest in the study came from examining these scales. During interviews with more than 2,000 respondents, a close association was found between such factors as ethnocentrism, rigid adherence to conventional values, a submissive attitude towards the moral authority of the in-group, a readiness to punish, opposition to the imaginative and tender-minded, belief in fatalistic theories, and an unwillingness to tolerate ambiguity. These authoritarian attitude clusters were subsequently linked, using Freudian theory, to family patterns. Intensive interviewing and the use of
Thematic Apperception Tests identified the authoritarian personality with a family pattern of rigidity, discipline, external rules, and fearful subservience to the demands of parents.
The Authoritarian Personality is a classic study of
prejudice ,
defence mechanisms , and
scapegoating . The term itself has entered everyday language, even though the original research has attracted considerable criticism. Among other weaknesses, critics have suggested that the Adorno study measures only an authoritarianism of the right, and fails to consider the wider ‘closed mind’ of both left and right alike; that it tends, like all theories of scapegoating, to reduce complex historical processes to psychological needs; and is based on flawed scales and samples. For a detailed exposition and critique see,
The Origins of Scientific Sociology (1962). See also
critical theory.
Dictionary of sociology.
2013.
Look at other dictionaries:
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authoritarian — authoritarian, authoritarianism See authoritarian personality … Dictionary of sociology
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personality — One of several concepts used by social scientists to refer to the individual (others include self and identity ). The concept has its origins in the Latin word persona (meaning ‘mask’), and refers to the set of more or less stable characteristics … Dictionary of sociology
authoritarian — authoritarian, authoritative These two words should be carefully distinguished as their implications are quite different. Authoritarian is generally used of people or their actions and has the unfavourable meaning ‘favouring or encouraging strict … Modern English usage
personality — noun 1 character ADJECTIVE ▪ bright, bubbly, extrovert (esp. BrE), jovial, lively, outgoing, sparkling, vibrant, vivacious ▪ … Collocations dictionary
authoritarian — adj. VERBS ▪ be ▪ become ADVERB ▪ extremely, fairly, very, etc. ▪ highly … Collocations dictionary
personality — 1. The unique self; the organized system of attitudes and behavioral predispositions by which one feels, thinks, acts, and impresses and establishes relationships with others. 2. An individual with a particular p. pattern. affective p. a chronic… … Medical dictionary
