Authoritarian Personality

Definition

The authoritarian personality describes a type of person who prefers a social system with a strong ruler—the authoritarian person is comfortable being the strong ruler but if the individual is not the strong ruler then he or she will demonstrate complete obedience to another strong authority figure. In both cases, there is little tolerance toward nonconservative ways of thinking. People whose personalities are structured in the manner of an authoritarian personality tend to conform to authority and believe that complete obedience to rules and regulations is completely necessary; any deviation from rules is to be treated harshly. The authoritarian personality often results in people harboring antagonistic feelings towards minority groups, whether religious, ethnic, or otherwise.

History and Development

The history of research on the authoritarian personality stems largely from the end of the Second World War and the Holocaust. During the 1950s, one prevailing fear was the potential spread of anti-democratic ideologies as had been seen by the rapid spread of Nazi fascism. The origin of racism and prejudice was an important topic in the academic world because of the mass genocide of the Jews. Scientists also realized [Page 82]that prejudice and anti-democratic ideologies—and fascism in particular—were not characteristic of any specific group, which meant that they began looking for another theory to explain these phenomena.

Concerns over the potential rise of fascism led to a search for a theory to identify those who were susceptible to anti-democratic ideologies. Theodor Adorno, a sociologist, is credited with the theory of authoritarian personality, which addressed the need for an explanation of prejudice and racism. Adorno believed that a certain personality structure was common among people who may fall victim to anti-democratic ideology. Adorno and his colleagues characterized the authoritarian personality structure on nine dimensions, discussed in the following section.

One implication of the theory that a personality structure causes this susceptibility is that the prejudice or racism is a product mostly of the people believing it, and not of the actual target. More specifically, antisemitism would not have much to do with the characteristics of Jewish people, but rather the characteristics of the people who dislike the Jews.

The authoritarian personality is thought to emerge from childhood experiences. This reasoning comes from Sigmund Freud's psychoanalytic theory. Freud suggested that childhood experiences, especially those with parents, lead to people's attitudes as adults. For example, if children have a very strict authoritarian parent, they will learn to suppress thoughts, feelings, and actions which might be considered immoral (e.g., aggression or sex drive). Later, because the child learned not to act on certain urges, the urges are projected onto other “weaker” people, often minorities. This results in the negative attitudes that authoritarian people carry regarding other groups. Again, the projection of internal suppressed urges onto others suggests that the prejudice is due to the individual's personality, not to traits of the oppressed group.

Though the term authoritarian personality implies a dominating or controlling personality, in theory a person with an authoritarian personality can actually prefer to be obedient to a clear authority figure. This type of personality desires strict adherence to rules and sees a clear distinction between the weak and the strong. Authoritarian personalities are somewhat conflicted because they want power, but also are very willing to submit to authority.

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