Clarifying the Structure and Nature of Left-Wing Authoritarianism

Authoritarianism has been the subject of scientific inquiry for nearly a century, yet the vast majority of authoritarianism research has focused on right-wing authoritarianism. In the present studies, we investigate the nature, structure, and nomological network of left-wing authoritarianism (LWA),...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of personality and social psychology 2022-01, Vol.122 (1), p.135-170
Main Authors: Costello, Thomas H., Bowes, Shauna M., Stevens, Sean T., Waldman, Irwin D., Tasimi, Arber, Lilienfeld, Scott O.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Authoritarianism
Cognition
Concept Formation
Construct Validity
Dogmatism
Dominance
Emotionality
Female
Human
Humans
Left wing politics
Male
Measurement
Motivation
Negative Emotions
Personality traits
Political participation
Political Psychology
Political Systems
Political Violence
Right wing politics
Social Dominance
Test Construction
Violence
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Summary:Authoritarianism has been the subject of scientific inquiry for nearly a century, yet the vast majority of authoritarianism research has focused on right-wing authoritarianism. In the present studies, we investigate the nature, structure, and nomological network of left-wing authoritarianism (LWA), a construct famously known as "the Loch Ness Monster" of political psychology. We iteratively construct a measure and data-driven conceptualization of LWA across six samples (N = 7,258) and conduct quantitative tests of LWA's relations with more than 60 authoritarianism-related variables. We find that LWA, right-wing authoritarianism, and social dominance orientation reflect a shared constellation of personality traits, cognitive features, beliefs, and motivational values that might be considered the "heart" of authoritarianism. Relative to right-wing authoritarians, left-wing authoritarians were lower in dogmatism and cognitive rigidity, higher in negative emotionality, and expressed stronger support for a political system with substantial centralized state control. Our results also indicate that LWA powerfully predicts behavioral aggression and is strongly correlated with participation in political violence. We conclude that a movement away from exclusively right-wing conceptualizations of authoritarianism may be required to illuminate authoritarianism's central features, conceptual breadth, and psychological appeal.
ISSN:0022-3514
1939-1315
DOI:10.1037/pspp0000341