The Authoritarian Personality
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The Authoritarian Personality is an influential 1950 book by Theodor W. Adorno and and several other researchers working at UC Berkeley during WWII and the period shortly thereafter. The lead author was really R. Nevitt Sanford but when a dispute arose about the sequence of secondary authors' names Sanford suggested they simply list the names alphabetically.[citation needed] The authors postulated the existence of an "Authoritarian Personality" that was receptive to Authoritarianism. The researchers created a psychometric instrument for measuring 'fascism' (the F-scale) and developed a Freudian theory of the development of this personality type.
The Authoritarian Personality inspired a huge amount of sociology and political science research during the later 1950s and early 1960s on the role of personality traits and in the adoption of political points of view. However, the concept of authoritarianism still stimulates much research even today (see Jost et al and Altemeyer in References).
The book has been criticized for its methodological flaws (e.g. issues of sample size and sample bias, poor psychometric technique)[1] Nonetheless, the book has been cited considerably within the sciences of sociology and political science.[2]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ *Christie, Richard & Jahoda, Marie (eds.) (1954). Studies in the scope and method of "The Authoritarian Personality". Glencoe, Ill.: Free Press.
- ^ "Political conservatism as motivated social cognition", authors John T. Jost, Jack Glaser, Arie W. Kruglanski and Frank J. Sulloway, journal title "Psychological Bulletin", 2003, Vol. 129, No. 3, pp. 339-375
[edit] Further reading
- Theodor Adorno, Else Frenkel-Brunswik, Daniel Levinson and Nevitt Sanford. The Authoritarian Personality, Studies in Prejudice Series, Volume 1. New York: Harper & Row, 1950. W. W. Norton & Company paperback reprint edition (1993) ISBN 0-393-31112-0.
- Altemeyer, Bob (2007). The Authoritarians. Retrieved on 2007-10-13.
- Christie, Richard & Jahoda, Marie (eds.) (1954). Studies in the scope and method of "The Authoritarian Personality". Glencoe, Ill.: Free Press.
- Jost, John T.; Glaser, Jack; Kruglanski, Arie W.; Sulloway, Frank J. (2003). "Political conservatism as motivated social cognition". Psychological Bulletin 129 (3): 339–375. doi:.
- Martin, John Levi (2001). "The Authoritarian Personality, 50 Years Later: What Questions Are There for Political Psychology?". Political Psychology 22 (1): 1–26. doi:.
- McClosky, Herbert; Chong, Dennis (1985). "Similarities and Differences between Left-Wing and Right-Wing Radicals". British Journal of Political Science 15 (3): 329–363.
- Shils, Edward (1954). "Authoritarianism: "Right" and "Left"", in Christie, Richard & Jahoda, Marie (eds.): Studies in the scope and method of "The Authoritarian personality". Glencoe, Ill.: Free Press.
- Altemeyer, Bob (1988). Enemies of Freedom: Understanding Right-Wing Authoritarianism.
- Altemeyer, Bob (1997). The Authoritarian Specter. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
