The Authoritarian Dynamic
Categories: Politics & Social Sciences
Political psychologist Karen Stenner argues that intolerance of difference—racial, moral and political—stems from an authoritarian predisposition that is activated when people sense threats to social unity and shared norms. Drawing on cross-national surveys, experiments and interviews, her 2005 Cambridge University Press study separates that response from ordinary conservatism and shows how perceived normative threat turns latent predisposition into open intolerance.
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- Scott Galloway: “Important book — understanding the conservative/Trump-voter mindset is key. We on the left tend to dismiss it and enforce our ideas of cosmopolitanism. That can backfire, spectacularly.”