Strength and Weakness: The Authoritarian Personality Today

278 Pages·1993·5.73 MB·English

by  William F. Stone, Gerda Lederer, Richard Christie (auth.), Richard Christie (eds.)

Strength and Weakness
William F. Stone Gerda Lederer
Richard Christie
Editors
Strength and Weakness
The Authoritarian Personality Today
Springer-Verlag
New York Berlin Heidelberg London Paris
Tokyo Hong Kong Barcelona Budapest
William F. Stone Gerda Lederer
Department of Psychology 55 Barksdale Road
University of Maine White Plains, NY 10607
Orono, ME 04469-0155 USA
USA
Richard Christie
Department of Psychology
Columbia University
New York, NY 10027
USA
With two illustrations
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Strength and weakness: the authoritarian personality today / William
F. Stone, Gerda Lederer, Richard Christie, editors.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-387-97698-1 (alk. paper).-ISBN 3-540-97698-1 (alk.
paper)
1. Authoritarianism. 2. Authoritarianism-Cross-cultural studies.
3. Authoritarian personality. 4. Authoritarianism (Personality
trait) I. Stone, William F. II. Lederer, Gerda, 1926-
III. Christie, Richard.
[DNLM: 1. Authoritarianism. BF 698.35.A87 S915]
HM271.S74 1992
303.3'6--dc20 92-2178
Printed on acid-free paper.
© 1993 Springer-Verlag New York, Inc.
All rights reserved. This work may not be translated or copied in whole or in part without
the written permission of the publisher (Springer-Verlag New York, Inc., 175 Fifth Avenue,
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electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now
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The use of general descriptive names, trade names, trademarks, etc., in this publication,
even if the former are not especially identified, is not to be taken as a sign that such names,
as understood by the Trade Marks and Merchandise Marks Act, may accordingly be used
freely by anyone.
Production managed by Bill Imbornoni; manufacturing supervised by Jacqui Ashri.
Typeset by Best-set Typesetter, Ltd., Hong Kong.
987654321
ISBN-13: 978-1-4613-9182-1 e-ISBN-13: 978-1-4613-9180-7
DOl: 10.1007/978-1-4613-9180-7
Preface
This book had its origins in conversations held at various meetings of
the International Society of Political Psychology. The editors and con-
tributors are grateful for the forum that has given us the opportunity to
discuss these topics over the last 10 years. We are most grateful to our
contributors both for their chapters and for the intellectual stimulation
they have given us. Jos Meloen in particular has been free with his time,
advice, and enthusiasm. Although he declined to contribute a chapter,
Bob Altemeyer has been a source of encouragement and a ready adviser
on any question we have asked.
The staff of Springer-Verlag has been most patient in adapting to our
schedule. We are indebted to the secretarial staff at the University of
Maine, and especially to Kathy McAuliffe, who has put in many extra
hours above and beyond the call of duty. Finally, we dedicate this book
to our departed friend and colleague, Silvan Tomkins, with whom we
conversed at length about these and other topics, and from whom we
received inspiration and diversion.
William F. Stone
Gerda Lederer
Richard Christie
v
Contents
Preface. . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . .. . v
Contributors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix
Part I Overview
1 Introduction: Strength and Weakness ........................ 3
WILLIAM F. STONE, GERDA LEDERER, and RICHARD CHRISTIE
2 The Authoritarian Character from Berlin to Berkeley and
Beyond: The Odyssey of a Problem. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 22
FRANZ SAMELSON
Part II Perspectives on Continuing
Questions About Authoritarianism
3 The F Scale as a Predictor of Facism: An Overview of
40 Years of Authoritarianism Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 47
Jos D. MELOEN
4 Some Experimental Approaches to Authoritarianism:
I. A Retrospective Perspective on the Einstellung
(Rigidity?) Paradigm. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 70
RICHARD CHRISTIE
5 Some Experimental Approaches to Authoritarianism:
II. Authoritarianism and Punitiveness. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 99
RICHARD CHRISTIE
6 Authoritarians and Their Families: Qualitative Studies on the
Origins of Authoritarian Dispositions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 119
CHRISTEL HOPF
7 Authoritarianism: Left and Right. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 144
WILLIAM F. STONE and LAURENCE D. SMITH
vii
Vlll Contents
Part III Recent Developments in Authoritarianism
Research and Theory
8 Psychodynamics, Cognitive Functioning, or Group Orientation:
Research and Theory in the 1980s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 159
WILLIAM F. STONE
9 Authoritarianism in German Adolescents: Trends and
Cross-Cultural Comparisons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 182
GERDA LEDERER
10 The Authoritarian Personality in the United States and the
Former Soviet Union: Comparative Studies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 199
SAM McFARLAND, VLADIMIR AGEYEV, and MARINA ABALAKINA
Part IV Conclusions
II The Status of Authoritarianism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 229
WILLIAM F. STONE, GERDA LEDERER, and RICHARD CHRISTIE
References .................................................. 246
Index ....................................................... 269
Contributors
MARINA ABALAKINA, PHD
Department of Psychology, New Mexico State University,
Las Cruces, NM 88003, USA
VLADIMIR AGEYEV, PHD
Department of Psychology, Moscow State University,
Moscow, Russian Federated Republic
RICHARD CHRISTIE, PHD
Department of Psychology, Columbia University, New York,
NY 10027, USA
CHRISTEL HOPF, PHD
Institute for Psychology and Sociology, University of
Hildesheim, Marienburger Platz 22,3200 Hildesheim, Germany
GERDA LEDERER, PHD
Currently doing research with Justus Liebig University, Giessen;
the University of Hamburg, Germany; and the University of Vienna,
Austria
SAM McFARLAND, PHD
Department of Psychology, Western Kentucky University,
Bowling Green, KY 42101, USA
Jos D. MELOEN, PHD
Institute for Social Science Research, University of Leiden,
Leiden, The Netherlands
FRANZ SAMELSON, PHD
Psychology Department, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS
66506, USA
IX
x Contributors
LAURENCE D. SMITH, PHD
Department of Psychology, University of Maine, Orono, ME
04469-5742, USA
WILLIAM F. STONE, PHD
Department of Psychology, University of Maine, Orono, ME
04469-5742. USA
Part I
Overview
1
Introduction: Strength and
Weakness
WILLIAM F. STONE, GERDA LEDERER, AND RICHARD CHRISTIE
Dispirited and shamed by the low estate to which Germany had fallen
with its defeat in the First World War, German citizens were ready for
strong leadership. They were alert for a leader who promised to restore
national pride and rebuild the German economy. Hitler promised such
leadership; his anti-Semitic harangues also struck a chord with many
Germans. Both Jews and communists served as handy scapegoats, the
former because of historic German prejudices, the latter as challengers of
traditional authority.
In his preface to The Authoritarian Personality (Adorno, Frenkel-
Brunswik, Levinson, & Sanford, 1950; referred to as TAP in the follow-
ing pages), Max Horkheimer noted that the purpose of TAP was to
describe "an 'anthropological' species we call the authoritarian type of
man" (p. ix). A major goal of describing such individuals was to suggest
origins, in the psychology of the German people, of the mass support for
the Nazis. However, there were many sources of Adolf Hitler's allure.
The German people's insecurity, both physical and economic, might ex-
plain some of their need for strong leadership. Germanic culture stressed
obedience to authority, discipline, and nationalism. Thus, without con-
sidering personality at all, these factors go a long way toward explaining
Hitler's appeal. Even in countries that do not go to the Fascist extreme,
environmental threats do lead to authority-seeking behaviors. In their
foreword to an abridged edition of TAP, Daniel Levinson and Nevitt
Sanford (1982) noted that they had come to recognize "the need for a
broader approach ... [taking] sociocultural forces more into account"
(p. vi). A notable attempt to present a broader account of the psycho-
logical and social forces responsible for the Holocaust and other instances
of mass killing is to be found in Erwin Staub's (1989) The Roots of Evil,
an attempt to construct a comprehensive theory of the causes of genocide.
Focusing on the Holocaust, Staub also examines the "disappearances"
during the reign of military terror in Argentina and other instances of
group violence.
3