Saturday, October 19, 2013

Walker, Ryan march to Rightwing Authoritarianism.

Conservatives probably won't like the following analysis of their movement, the one that just shutdown the government for no apparent reason, but it sure makes understanding them easier for the rest of us. See John Dean's writing as well. Here's what is happening:
Rightwing authoritarianism (RWA) is one of two attitudinal constructs (along with social dominance orientation--SDO) that combine to account for a majority of group prejudice, which in turn is a major aspect of group identity politics. RWA is defined as the convergence of three attitudinal clusters:

Authoritarian submission: A high degree of submission to the authorities who are perceived to be established and legitimate in the society in which one lives.

Authoritarian aggression: A general aggressiveness, directed against various persons, that is perceived to be sanctioned by established authorities. 

Conventionalism: A high degree of adherence to the social conventions that are perceived to be endorsed by society and its established authorities.
As might be guessed, RWA is associated with a high degree of hostility toward outgroups, hard core conservatism correlates with a strong resistance to power-sharing with various outgroups--blacks, Jews, Catholics, unions and women.
The construct was developed empirically by Canadian researcher Robert Altemeyer, who started by examining the more elaborate, Freudian-based construct presented in The Authoritarian Personality

Altemeyer explains that "right-wing'" means a "psychological sense of submitting to perceived authorities in one's life," and is not identified with a specific political ideology.


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