The Psychology Behind Authoritarianism

Humans have witnessed centuries of conflict among rulers and political leaders fighting for power and authority. Our history is full of countless revolutions to overthrow autocracy and fight for independence. But authoritarian rule continues to exist it has declined since the pandemic. Just 20.3% of humanity lived in free nations at the end of 2021 (Repucci & Slipowitz, 2022). It marked the 16th consecutive global decline in citizen’s rights and liberties.

Authoritarianism is defined as the blind submission to authority without regard for individual freedom and autonomy (Lindstaedt, 2024). If you actively watch the news, then you might recall hearing news about the dictatorship in North Korea or the Taliban rule in Afghanistan. Democratic countries are no exception to this surge. People across democratic countries continue to fight for equal rights shoved under the rug to look ‘righteous’ and ‘correct’.

People in power have overlooked the alarming surge of wars and the decline in equal human rights for years. However, most of the public and the authorities are also ignoring it. The psychology behind authoritarianism holds the answer. 

Read More: Psychology Behind Inequality

Why Authoritarianism? 

Why do people willingly support being repressed? This question continues to be a highly debated topic among psychologists. Different schools of thought and perspectives shed light on varying components of authoritarianism. We need a holistic and combined approach to understand this phenomenon. Some important perspectives that explain the mechanism behind authoritarianism include: 

Authoritarianism as Crowd’s Phenomenon

As crowds organized in political groups and unions began to determine the fate of nations, the first theory to explain authoritarianism evolved. Le Bon (1895/2012) defined crowds as large groups of people where individuality merges, making them lose control of their thoughts and emotions. He further explained that crowds are always led by a leader. These leaders lean more towards actions than thinking. Crowd leaders are marked by fanatic commitment towards their beliefs and values and often cannot sustain their political actions with rationality.

According to his theory, crowds develop a collective mentality devoid of critical thinking, which is guided by instinct. He also emphasized the necessity of crowd leaders, as crowds prefer listening to powerful men. However, it is necessary to remember that this theory was developed to explain autocratic leadership and may not apply to democratic countries.

Authoritarian Personality

Inspired by psychoanalysis and Marxism, he developed a theory to explain why crowds become authoritarian. He compared Nazism and fascism with Freud’s sexual repression. Children are taught to repress sexual desires from their parents. As adults, these impulses lead to anxiety. Similarly here, instead of sexual desires, the fear of revolution influences people to be irrational (Cattier, 1970; Sharaf, 1994).

Later, Adorno et al. along with Reich and Fromm, introduced authoritarian personality inspired by Freudian psychoanalytic theory. Adorno retook Reich and Fromm’s theory about the father figure to explain the origin of authoritarian personality. According to his theory, unresolved aggression towards a father leads to masochistic obedience and sadistic hostility displaced towards other objects. This fear can be prevented from maturing with the help of a supportive, loving environment. 

Cognitive Approach

To address the shortcomings of Adorno’s theory and the shift from psychoanalysis to cognitive, Rokeach (1960) introduced the concept of dogmatism. He suggested that authoritarianism is tied to a person’s rigid belief system, and depends on the level of permeability to new information. According to Rokeach, ideologies could be authoritarian depending on the degree of openness and closeness of an individual’s belief system. However, his theory was criticized for lack of empirical evidence and could not be generalized. 

Read More: What is True Freedom and How Can We Achieve It?

Authoritarianism in the situation

Milgram’s study on obedience is highly criticized because of its unethical and questionable methods. However, it completely transformed the initial perspective on authoritarianism. Milgram pointed out that his experiment created a conflict in the subjects between a deeply rooted disposition not to harm others and an equally strong tendency to obey authority (Milgram, 1974). He suggested that the level of obedience and disobedience is affected by the situation and does not always reveal a pattern of unique personality which is inevitably expressed through either. 

Right-Wing Authoritarianism

Altemeyer (1981) criticized existing literature on authoritarianism for lacking theoretical soundness and scientific validity. He took it upon himself to develop a new theory based on Adorno’s work on authoritarian personality. Altemeyer (1996) suggests that authoritarianism focuses on individual perception regarding the standards approved by those perceived as legitimate authorities, which may or may not be the standards that characterize the middle class. Thus, Altemeyer (1981) adopts an interactional perspective to explain authoritarianism, in which the family, the peer group and the various social institutions that people take part in (e.g. education, justice, security forces) play a fundamental role. 

While we naturally desire respect and authority, people still debate the reason behind authoritarianism. Despite the differences, most psychologists agree that a desire to both conform and assert dominance sparks it. While these concepts differ greatly, both have evolved as instinctive behaviours to ensure our survival.

Respecting social norms or wanting to lead is a respectable trait to have, yet it should not get out of hand. Remember that every individual has different values and morals, and we cannot claim anything as the ultimate truth. Authoritarianism is a global threat that rips people away from logic and critical thinking. As humans, it is necessary to remember that humanity and equality come before any political ideology. 

Read More: What is Political Psychology?

Frequently Asked Questions 

What is authoritarian in psychology? 

The authoritarian personality was first identified by Adorno et al. and refers to a person with extreme respect towards authority with a tendency to be obedient towards those who hold power over them. 

What creates an authoritarian personality? 

It is often a result of cold, rigid and demanding parenting which leads to the development of unconscious hostility not towards parents or authority figures but instead towards those perceived to be weak or unconventional. 

How to identify if someone has an authoritarian personality? 

A person with an authoritarian personality tends to accept the decrees of authority figures as the ultimate truth. They often create hierarchies in which those who disagree with them are at the bottom. Such people often demand obedience from the people they consider beneath them. In addition to obedience, they are also hostile towards people with different backgrounds and belief systems. 

Is authoritarian leadership bad? 

Authoritarian leadership can provide clear direction and accountability however it can stifle creativity, decrease morale and create resentment among team members.