Abstract
A core debate in authoritarianism research relates to the stability of authoritarianism, i.e., whether it is a dispositional phenomenon socialized in early childhood or even genetically predisposed, or whether it is impacted by time-sensitive, exterior conditions. Whereas certain individual authoritarian tendencies emerge as a rather stable personality trait, there is also empirical evidence for a dynamic influence of external factors. This review article provides a conceptual multilevel framework for the study of authoritarianism and offers an insight into the state-of-research on socialization and situational influences, with a particular focus on threat. Findings are discussed with regard to key theories of authoritarianism.
Highlights
Classical authoritarianism theory, as spelt out most prominently by Adorno et al (1950), emphasizes the idea of authoritarianism as a stable personality trait that is not subject to sweeping changes throughout the life span
One has to distinguish between situational influences that are singular, time-sensitive events and contextual influences that shape the immediate life context in terms of the lifelong socialization experience and may vary throughout the life span
What explanatory power does a context-sensitive perspective on authoritarianism add to the essentialist perspective viewing authoritarianism as a stable trait? A convincing indication for an interactive explanation of authoritarianism was found in a meta-analysis by Sibley and Duckitt (2008): In that study, the scores on an often-used right-wing authoritarianism scale (Altemeyer, 1996, p. 250) are “highly reactive to situational manipulations” and “to be changed by group socialization influences.”
Summary
As spelt out most prominently by Adorno et al (1950), emphasizes the idea of authoritarianism as a stable personality trait that is not subject to sweeping changes throughout the life span. One has to distinguish between situational influences that are singular, time-sensitive events and contextual influences that shape the immediate life context in terms of the lifelong socialization experience and may vary throughout the life span. This elicits the questions which individual and societal. We review theory and research regarding the mechanisms behind authoritarianism, presenting both the situational perspective, with a focus on threat, and the contextual perspective of lifelong socialization. We briefly summarize the main outcomes of this review and draw conclusions for future research
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