20th out of 30 books
—
2 voters
The Authoritarians
Bob Altemeyer—author of
Atheists
and
The Authoritarian Specter
—gives a readable analysis of the nature of authoritarianism and its current impact on American politics.
Full text available at theauthoritarians.com. Also available for purchase at Lulu.com.
Full text available at theauthoritarians.com. Also available for purchase at Lulu.com.
free online text, 261 pages
Published
2006
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Update (15 September 2011)
CNN: What do you tell a financially secure guy who is sick, goes into a coma and doesn't have health insurance? Are you saying society should just let him die?
Tea Party: YEAH!! LET HIM DIE!!
You can check out the Youtube of it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F56cfS...
Update (24 August 2011)
An interesting study, "Cultures of the Tea Party", purports to break down the cultural attitudes of Tea Party loyalists, through a mix of polling data and interviews with tea par...more
CNN: What do you tell a financially secure guy who is sick, goes into a coma and doesn't have health insurance? Are you saying society should just let him die?
Tea Party: YEAH!! LET HIM DIE!!
You can check out the Youtube of it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F56cfS...
Update (24 August 2011)
An interesting study, "Cultures of the Tea Party", purports to break down the cultural attitudes of Tea Party loyalists, through a mix of polling data and interviews with tea par...more
A random set of notes on this book, in descending date order. And everyone must read this book. Resistance is NOT futile. I may be low RWA, but I'll be damned if I'll go down without a fight.
I have to stop reading now. Now, it's personal. Now, it's my country, my democracy that is under direct attack by Double High Religious Right-wingers who -- incidentally -- have been insidiously, directly, deliberately advised by GW Bush strategists.
Less than 40% of less than 60% elected the current governme...more
I have to stop reading now. Now, it's personal. Now, it's my country, my democracy that is under direct attack by Double High Religious Right-wingers who -- incidentally -- have been insidiously, directly, deliberately advised by GW Bush strategists.
Less than 40% of less than 60% elected the current governme...more
This is an interesting little study about a personality type, and its possible political implications.
Altemeyer defines a "Right-Wing Authoritarian" (RWA) personality, which is dimly related to the broad "True Believer" type found in Erich Fromm. An RWA is submissive to authority, willing to commit violence in the name of that authority, and applies strict adherence to tradition. Although Altemeyer applies this tradition to the worst elements of the Tea Party in an addenda, he notes that the nam...more
Altemeyer defines a "Right-Wing Authoritarian" (RWA) personality, which is dimly related to the broad "True Believer" type found in Erich Fromm. An RWA is submissive to authority, willing to commit violence in the name of that authority, and applies strict adherence to tradition. Although Altemeyer applies this tradition to the worst elements of the Tea Party in an addenda, he notes that the nam...more
Sometime last year I read a book by John Dean called "Conservatives Without Conscience". That book relied heavily on Robert Altemeyer's studies involving authoritarian personalities. This book, "The Authoritarians" is the resulting synopsis of his research that John Dean relied on.
One of the things that often perplexes me while observing current politics, especially the struggle between the Democrats and Republicans, is the experience of such extreme bouts of cognitive dissonance watching the Re...more
One of the things that often perplexes me while observing current politics, especially the struggle between the Democrats and Republicans, is the experience of such extreme bouts of cognitive dissonance watching the Re...more
Jul 24, 2008
Lithodid-man
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Everyone
Recommended to Lithodid-man by:
Topic on www.worldwideword.net
I believe this book is one of the most import things I have read in a very log time. Dr. Altemeyer has presented a very engaging yet thorough analysis of his research into authoritarian personalities.
I have been studying and attempting to understand the evangelical mindset for a long time. Throughout this book he presents insights into a personality type that transcends evangelicals, making the claim that there is a personality profile that is attracted to authority. Fundamentalism would be jus...more
I have been studying and attempting to understand the evangelical mindset for a long time. Throughout this book he presents insights into a personality type that transcends evangelicals, making the claim that there is a personality profile that is attracted to authority. Fundamentalism would be jus...more
This book is nothing less than spectacular. Robert Altemeyer, a renowned social scientist in the field of authoritarian followers and leaders, shares his life's work and the implications it has for modern society. If you ever wondered why certain people continue to do "stupid things" while holding a collection of erroneous and often contradicting ideas, but these people do not all consistently fit into one category, then this book will reveal that category in a scientific manner. For example, Al...more
In this portentous account of the degrading state of political discourse in the United States, Bob Altemeyer provides a pedestrian overview of his career studying the psychology of "authoritarians". In particular, he identifies the perfect storm which can result when authoritarian leaders and authoritarian followers join forces. The willingness of authoritarian leaders to manipulate and connive their way into power, combined with authoritarian followers' willingness to accept those who profess t...more
May 18, 2011
Remittance
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
anyone with an interest in understanding the right-wing mind.
I listened to the audio version of this book (available at Audible.com) and then downloaded the text because I was so utterly stunned by the data, I wanted to see the his footnotes and look up the published articles that pertain to many of the studies the author mentions.
Altemeyer identifies 'authoritarians' as those who have scored high on the scale he developed as an experimental testing tool, the Right-Wing Authoritarianism scale (RWA). After having studied the psychology of socio-political l...more
Altemeyer identifies 'authoritarians' as those who have scored high on the scale he developed as an experimental testing tool, the Right-Wing Authoritarianism scale (RWA). After having studied the psychology of socio-political l...more
Warning: I could only bear to read about the first 50 pages of this in depth. The rest I skimmed through. Far be it for me to say that merely because something is a belligerent ranting diatribe, it doesn't have merit. After all, I have written this....
Permit me, if you will, to counterpoise the RWA with the HPA. That is the Harry Potter authoritarian. It suddenly and obviously struck me yesterday, that it is a perfect example of how you can’t actually talk about the RWA like it is some special b...more
Permit me, if you will, to counterpoise the RWA with the HPA. That is the Harry Potter authoritarian. It suddenly and obviously struck me yesterday, that it is a perfect example of how you can’t actually talk about the RWA like it is some special b...more
First things first, if you haven't yet read this book you need to read it, or at least you need to read Manny's excellent summary of this book's contents. Right now.
Ok. Now that you have the gist, I have a few comments:
First, I know the people this book describes. Intimately. I used to be one. I still have lots of friends who fit, for the most part, the high-RWA description. My wife's entire family are high RWA's, to a tee. They're (usually) good people and good friends. But they'll support disc...more
Ok. Now that you have the gist, I have a few comments:
First, I know the people this book describes. Intimately. I used to be one. I still have lots of friends who fit, for the most part, the high-RWA description. My wife's entire family are high RWA's, to a tee. They're (usually) good people and good friends. But they'll support disc...more
Say what you will about the sweet miracle of unquestioning faith, I consider a capacity for it terrifying and absolutely vile.In this unassuming little book, Bob Altemeyer, a 60-something Canadian professor of social sciences, presents a straightforward theory explaining how authoritarian leaders arise, and what people compose their power base. He starts with the followers. What kind of person wants to support a leader like Hitler or Stalin? Altemeyer started investi...more
- Kurt Vonnegut, Mother Night
I love it when experienced academics let loose with a for the public version of their work. This is extremely informative - but very disturbing. I recommend it to all of my US friends who have any interest in politics at all.
It's be interesting to see an addendum following the first Obama term, as if anything the Tea Party and Co. have become even more fearful and excited, though thankfully unable to act upon their radical agenda. It'd be fascinating to see the response of the US public if the r...more
It's be interesting to see an addendum following the first Obama term, as if anything the Tea Party and Co. have become even more fearful and excited, though thankfully unable to act upon their radical agenda. It'd be fascinating to see the response of the US public if the r...more
A fascinating and alarming look at the authoritarian mindset, both among authoritarian leaders and authoritarian followers, based mostly (but not entirely) on the author's own research.
I have only two complaints. I wish the author had spent more time discussing effective ways to counteract this mindset, or at least mitigate its effect on our world today. He does address this at the end, but briefly and with a slightly hopeless air.
I also had problems with the use of the phrase "right-wing auth...more
I have only two complaints. I wish the author had spent more time discussing effective ways to counteract this mindset, or at least mitigate its effect on our world today. He does address this at the end, but briefly and with a slightly hopeless air.
I also had problems with the use of the phrase "right-wing auth...more
This book is that wonderful combination of an academic who really knows his stuff and is also able to write about it in a way that will appeal to the non-expert reader. In this case, the academic is a psychologist who has studied the traits of people who have an unhealthy respect for authority: the ones who would sign up to a posse to drum gays out of town if their sheriff said it was a good idea, for example. Combine that type of person with an individual who is motivated by power and is willin...more
I spent a year and a half studying why politics in the US has become so divisive that one side no longer speaks meaningfully to the other. I could have saved my self a year and 25 weeks if I’d found this book first. It took everything I learned and set it into a bigger context, the context of statistical psychology. Altemeyer has been surveying authoritarian personalities for decades, and really puts his finger on authoritarian leaders and those who blindly follow them. He understands their aggr...more
This book is regarding psychological data on a particular personality type, which is Authoritarian. Some data books can be boring, but Bob is a funny guy and he makes the reading fun. The reason I enjoyed this book as much as I did was that it dealt with the difference between a leader and a follower in authoritarian circles. We all meet people that are truly genuine and believe any made up story with passion. We have also met the leaders of lies and can see how different and fake they are. It s...more
When people wonder why ordinary people can do such terrible things in certain societies under the order of a leader, the reason they can is called authoritarianism. These people have psychological tendencies that lead them to follow orders from authorities no matter what the consequences (and won't see that their leaders are lying when most rational individuals see that they are painfully clearly lying). Altemeyer warns that a large segment of the US population are authoritarians, blindly willin...more
A remarkable study. It investigated and quantifies the phenomena we have been witnessing for years, the rise of authoritarianism in the US. We have seen this before in European, African and South American countries but we haven't noticed it, or maybe just not taken it seriously in the US. It's becoming more and more evident that it *can* happen here. Being a liberal like Altemeyer is, I engage in introspection and I am afraid of my own role in this. This book is a must read. It is all too prophe...more
Authoritarian followers are people who submits, bows to and leaps to follow authoritarian leaders. The first few chapters of this book focus on painting a picture of who these followers are. Among other things they are very religious, prejudiced, and often hold completely contradictory views on things at the same time. All it takes is a dominant, authoritarian leader, to whip them into shape. Often, perhaps surprisingly (perhaps not), the leader pretends to have the same values as the followers...more
Written in a casual, non-academic style, The Authoritarians provides a solid sociological foundation for understanding "why do they think/act like that?" whether "they" are on the right or left of the socio-political scale. I have steered many people to this book who have wondered how their friends and family members can possibly vote and act and think in ways that seem contrary to their own best interests. Highly recommended.
Very interesting book. This is a summary of this professor's sociological research over the last several decades. Discusses interesting personality dynamics between leaders and followers in authoritarian groups, and discusses ways to talk to members of this group without setting off their paranoid hostility, or alternately, how to shamelessly use these easily manipulable pawns to further your own political career.
I struggled to understand what has happened in American politics over the last 30 years until I read this book. Reading it I no longer get so angry in discussions with my friends on the right who I have split between simply uninformed and willfully partisan uninformed
I still practice my written and verbal skills on the willful group but don't get frustrated at how easily they ignore facts. Facts don't matter.
I still practice my written and verbal skills on the willful group but don't get frustrated at how easily they ignore facts. Facts don't matter.
A very interesting take on the personality types currently controlling our political system. I'm sure that there are many who fit Professor Altemeyer's authoritarian mindset who will completely disagree with his analysis. However, as someone who lives in this system and just totally does not see HOW these people can act and think the way they do...well, this book has given me some valuable insight.
Aug 02, 2011
Capntastic
added it
A great overview of how some people are capable of living with sets of ideals that are in direct conflict with each other, and how that mindset manifests in different aspects of life.
Recommended to everyone. A psychologist shares the results of his psychological studies examining the specific personality trait of authoritarianism. This work is grounded in science as much as possible, and in the process we learn a great deal about how social scientists quantify and define psychological factors. As a result, this isn't simply a polemic or opinion piece about "authoritarianism" in the abstract, but a study about a specific mental trait and its attendant politics.
Rarely these da...more
Rarely these da...more
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Robert "Bob" Altemeyer is a retired Professor of Psychology at the University of Manitoba. Born in St. Louis, he earned a B.S. at Yale University in 1962 and a Ph.D at Carnegie-Mellon in 1966.
He has written extensively on authoritarianism and refined the theory into the concept (and measure) of Right Wing Authoritarianism. His first book, Right-Wing Authoritarianism, was published in 1981 and repo...more
More about Bob Altemeyer...
He has written extensively on authoritarianism and refined the theory into the concept (and measure) of Right Wing Authoritarianism. His first book, Right-Wing Authoritarianism, was published in 1981 and repo...more
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Apr 23, 2012 07:01am
Only too true.
Apr 23, 2012 07:34am