Right-Wing Authoritarianism Scale Research Articles

Authoritarianism in Israeli Society

Abstract The Right-Wing Authoritarianism Scale (RWA; Altemeyer, 1988) was translated into Hebrew to test for cross-cultural validity in an Israeli context and to evaluate Ray's (1985) claim that the RWA measures only conservatism. Seven hundred eight Jewish Israeli undergraduate students (42.9% men and 57.1% women) whose mean age was 24 years, completed the RWA and a demographic questionnaire that included items on political affiliations and religiosity. The supporters of religious parties scored highest, followed by the supporters of right-wing parties, the Labour party, and the left-wing parties, with statistically significant differences between the four groups. The differences between the last three groups remained statistically significant when analysis was performed only on the secular subjects. The secular participants scored the lowest, followed by the traditional participants, and the orthodox participants. These findings confirmed the construct validity of the RWA with respect to Israeli culture.

Right-Wing Authoritarianism and Political Intolerance among Whites in the Future Majority-Rule South Africa

Abstract The anti-Black prejudice, ethnocentric ingroup preference, and affinity for right-wing politics and ideology of White right-wing authoritarians in South Africa suggest that they should be particularly opposed to political intolerance and infringements on civil liberties by a future Black, left-wing, majority rule government. In this study, conducted in August 1992 with 79 White South African students, the Right-Wing Authoritarianism (RWA) scale (Altemeyer, 1981) showed a strong positive correlation with anti-Black racial prejudice and a negative correlation with anti-White attitudes. However, the RWA scores were negatively associated with support for political tolerance by a new majority-rule government, despite indications that the intolerance would be directed against conservatives opposing the new state. This finding is consistent with a previous finding that right-wing authoritarians were more ready to persecute not only left-wing but also right-wing groups proscribed by governmental authorities, and it suggests that political intolerance, rather than ethnocentrism, ingroup loyalty, or right-wing politics, is fundamental to the authoritarian syndrome.

A Comparative Assessment of the Construct Validity of Three Authoritarianism Measures

The relationship between three measures of authoritarianism and first-and second-order personality traits was assessed. In Part 1, 508 students completed the 16PF, Ray Balanced F Scale (BF), Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale (MC-SD), and Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory (SEI). The results of regression analyses between the 16PF and the BF indicated that authoritarianism was related to three second-order factors: Behavior Control, Tough Poise, and low Independence, but was more strongly related to seven first-order factors: low Imagination, Concrete Thought, Insensitivity, Closed-mindedness, Self-discipline, Seriousness, and Suspiciousness. In Part 2, a subsample of 139 students also completed the Altemeyer Right-Wing Authoritarianism Scale (RWA) and Ray Directiveness Scale (RDS). It was found that the RWA paralleled the BF in terms of the 16PF factors associated with it, while the RDS was dissimilar from the other two scales in this respect. The RDS was primarily related to the Dominance and Social Boldness first-order factors and the Independence second-order factor. First- and second-order conversion equations are reported for the BF, RDS, and RWA. Finally, the three scales′ reliabilities and relationships to self-esteem and socially desirable responding were assessed.

Assessing the structure of prejudicial attitudes: The case of attitudes toward homosexuals.

Two studies assessed the structure of attitudes toward homosexuals. In Study 1, Ss completed measures of stereotypes, symbolic beliefs, and affective associates as well as attitudes toward homosexuals. They also completed the right-wing authoritarianism (RWA) scale. The results revealed that (a) stereotypes did not provide a complete representation of attitudes, (b) RWA was negatively correlated with attitudes toward homosexuals, (c) the relative importance of the predictor variables differed for high and low RWAs, and (d) the three predictors accounted for more variance in the attitudes of low RWAs than of high RWAs. Study 2 also included measures of past experiences and perceived value dissimilarity. Results revealed that past experiences significantly added to the prediction of attitudes only for high RWAs and that much of the RWA–attitude relation was accounted for by the consideration of symbolic beliefs and perceived value dissimilarity.

Right-Wing Authoritarianism Among White South African Students: Its Measurement and Correlates

Abstract The psychometric properties and correlates of the Right-Wing Authoritarianism Scale (RWA Scale; Altemeyer, 1981) were investigated using a sample of White South African students (N = 217). Traditional measures of authoritarianism have performed particularly badly in such settings. The RWA scale was factorially unidimensional and highly reliable, and correlated powerfully with validity criteria of authoritarianism, such as civil liberties stance, anti-Black prejudice and discrimination, liberalism/conservatism, and acceptance of parental religious beliefs. The particularly strong correlation with anti-Black prejudice contradicted influential previous findings suggesting that this correlation would be very weak in settings where racism was widespread or normative.

Authoritarianism and Attitudes toward Contemporary Social Issues

Three studies were conducted to examine the relevance of authoritarianism to contemporary social attitudes, with special emphasis on AIDS, drug use, and the environment. In Studies 1 and 2, students scoring higher on authoritarianism (measured by Byrne's balanced F scale and Altemeyer's Right-Wing Authoritarianism Scale, respectively) were more likely to endorse harsh, punitive sentiments and solutions to the problems of AIDS and drugs and less likely to endorse more egalitarian ones. These two issues are presumed to represent a threat to the "American way of life" and provide clear out-groups for authoritarian aggression. Regarding the environment, authoritarians express hostility toward the environmental movement, rather than toward polluters. In Study 3, authoritarianism was further related to attitudes on abortion, child abuse, homelessness, the space program, the trade deficit, political changes in the Soviet Union, and the purposes of colleges and universities. These results show that the concept of authoritarianism is applicable to attitudes on many important issues of the 1 990s.

A comparison of right-wing authoritarianism, conformity and conservatism

Study aims were (a) to test the Altemeyer Right-Wing Authoritarianism Scale (RWAS) for unidimensionality and (b) to compare RWAS with two related Constructs of Conformity and sociopolitical Conservatism. A sample of 339 university students completed all three measures on an 80-item survey form. A principal axis analysis of the 30 RWAS items alone isolated two factors with pro-trait items loading on the first and con-trait items loading on the second factor. Since the two factors correlate 0.40 an underlying higher order dimension is implied. Analysis of the three scales combined disclosed four factors interpretable as Right-Wing Authoritarianism. Freedom of Expression, Conservatism on Military Issues and Political Liberalism. The results indicate that RWAS measures two factors and a slender higher-order dimension.

Predicting authoritarian behaviour: analysis of three measures

This study investigated the behavioural validity of three recent measures of authoritarianism, namely, the Right-wing Authoritarianism scale (RWA; Altemeyer, 1981), the Ray (1972) BF scale, and the Ray (1976) Directiveness (DIR) scale. The best predictors of various dimensions of authoritarian behaviour were the RWA and DIR scales, while the BF scale was found to only predict conservative behaviour. These findings are discussed in the light of current research into authoritarianism.