Autoritaire persoonlijkheden: populisme aanhangers?

[Aris B.]

REPLY TO: D66 at nic.surfnet.nl

Beste Mensen,

ter aanvulling hiervan heb ik zojuist drie uittreksels van passages over de
Frankfurter Schule uit Nederlandse handboeken Politicologie en een
Amerikaans handboek Politieke Psychologie op de Democraten.nu -website
gezet.

Bernard Aris

-----Oorspronkelijk bericht-----
Van: Hein van Meeteren [mailto:heinwvm at chello.nl]
Verzonden: woensdag 17 juli 2002 16:17
Aan: D66 at NIC.SURFNET.NL
Onderwerp: Autoritaire persoonlijkheden: populisme aanhangers?


REPLY TO: D66 at nic.surfnet.nl

Doorgaand op de vraag van Henk Vreekamp hoe we het eigentijdse populisme
kunnen verklaren kreeg ik dus de breenweef van de Frankfuter Schule. Met
name de studies aangaande de Autoritaire Karakters. We kregen vervolgens een
bloedeloos kibbelp[artijtje over kwaliteit en kwantiteit, maar eigenlijk
gaat het hierom: wie volgt nu eigenlijk een Leider? Daarover dus Adorno et
al. en hier volgt een excerptje

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What kind of people would follow an aggressive, arrogant, critical,
prejudiced leader? The classic book on this topic is The Authoritarian
Personality. These authors (Adorno, Frenkel-Brunswick, Levinson & Sanford,
1950) described several traits of authoritarian leaders, like Hitler, and
their followers, like the German people:
1. Rigid, unthinking adherence to conventional, middle-class ideas of right
and wrong. The distinction has to be made between (a) incorporating (as in
Kohlberg's stage 6--see chapter 3) universal values and (b) having blind
allegiance to traditional social-political-religious customs or
organizations. Examples: an egalitarian person who truly values
one-person-one-vote, equal rights, equal opportunities, and freedom of
speech will support a democracy, not a dictatorship. A person who says, "I
love my country--right or wrong" or "America--love it or leave it" may be a
flag-waving, patriotic speech-making politician who is secretly an
antidemocratic authoritarian (similar in some ways to Hitler). For the
authoritarian the values of respecting and caring for others are not as
important as being a "good German" or a "good American" or a "good Catholic"
or a "good Baptist."
Important values to an authoritarian are obedience, cleanliness, success,
inhibition or denial of emotions (especially anger and even love), firm
discipline, honoring parents and leaders, and abhorring all immoral sexual
feelings. This was the German character. Authoritarian parents tend to
produce dominated children who become authoritarian parents. Egalitarians
produce egalitarians.
2. Respect for and submission to authority--parents, teachers, religion,
bosses, or any leader. This includes a desire for a strong leader and for
followers to revere the leader, following him (seldom her) blindly. It was
believed by the psychoanalytic writers of The Authoritarian Personality that
recognizing one's hostile feelings towards an authority was so frightening
that the authoritarian personality was compelled to be submissive. There is
an emphasis on following rules and regulations, on law and order. Everyone
has a proper role to play, including gender role.
3. They take their anger out on someone safe. In an authoritarian
environment (family, religion, school, peer group, government), the
compliant, subservient, unquestioning follower stores up unexpressed anger
at the authority. The hostility can't be expressed towards the authority,
however, so it is displaced to an outsider who is different--a scapegoat.
Unconsciously, the authoritarian says, "I don't hate my father; I hate Jews
(or blacks or unions or management or ambitious women or Communists or
people on welfare)." The "good cause" to which one is dedicated often
dictates who to hate, who to be prejudice against.
4. They can't trust people. They believe "people who are different are no
good." If we believe others are as bad or worse than we are, we feel less
guilt: "Everybody looks out for #1" or "Everybody would cheat if they had a
chance." Such a negative view of people leads to the conclusion that harsh
laws and a strong police or army are necessary. Also, it leads people to
foolishly believe that humans would "go wild" and be totally immoral if they
lost their religion.
5. Because they feel weak, authoritarian personalities believe it is
important to have a powerful leader and to be part of a powerful group.
Thus, they relish being in the "strongest nation on earth," the "master
race," the "world-wide communist movement," "the wealthiest nation," the
"best corporation," the "best part of town," the "best-looking crowd," the
"best team," etc. The successful, the powerful, the leaders are to be held
in awe. And the authoritarian says, "when I get power, I want to be held in
awe too. I'll expect respect, just like I demand it from my children."
6. Over-simplified thinking. If our great leaders and our enormous
government tells us what to do, if our God and our religion directs our
lives, then we don't have to take responsibility for thinking or deciding.
We just do what we are told. And, in general, we, "the masses," are given
simple explanations and told the solutions are simple by authoritarian
leaders. Examples: "The source of the trouble is lenient parents (or schools
or laws)," "God is on our side," "Get rid of the Jews (or Capitalists or
Communists or blacks or Arabs)." For the authoritarian if things aren't
simple, they are unknowable, e.g. he/she endorses the statement, "science
has its place, but there are many important things that can never possibly
be understood by the human mind."
7. Guard against dangerous ideas. Since the authoritarian already has a
handle on the truth, he/she opposes new ideas, unconventional solutions,
creative imaginations. They believe an original thinker is dangerous; he/she
will think differently. It's considered good to be suspicious of
psychologists, writers, and artists who probe your mind and feelings--such
people are scary. Governments who observe subversives are OK, though.
Indeed, censorship of the media may become necessary, especially if the
media becomes critical of our leaders or sexually provocative. A
businessperson produces needed products; an intellectual is a threat.
8. I'm pure, others are evil. The authoritarian represses his/her aggressive
and sexual feelings, then projects those traits on to stereotyped persons in
the outgroup (see defense mechanisms in chapter 5). For example, it was
Larry King's and other white men's dishonesty, laziness, hatred, and sexual
urges that got projected to the black man (see quote above). The
authoritarian, therefore, feels surrounded by people preoccupied with sex
and/or violence. The psychoanalysts who wrote The Authoritarian Personality
say the sexual fears come from an unresolved Oedipus or Electra Complex. The
hostility comes from childhood (see #2 & #3 above) too and throughout their
lives authoritarians expect criminal acts nearby and terrorists' attacks
around the world. They become paranoid, believing many people want to hurt
them (which justifies their aggression?).
9. Ethnocentrism: Everything of mine is better than yours--my country, my
religion, my kind of people, my family, my self. Research has also shown the
authoritarian is more prejudiced and more prone to punish people (including
their own children) to get them to work harder or to do "right" (Byrne &
Kelley, 1981).
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Bron: http://mentalhelp.net/psyhelp/chap7/chap7l.htm

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