Abstract
Authoritarianism is a form of social behavior characterized by strict obedience to the authority of a state or organization and adherence to enforcing and maintaining control through the use of oppressive measures. It refers to a complex of nine subsyndromes (Adorno, Frenkel-Brunswik, Levinson, and Sanford, 1950), of which conventionalism (strict adherence to conventional values), aggression and submission are the most important (Meloen, 1991). The subsyndromes explain why authoritarian people tend to look down on (contraidentify) and discriminate social or ethnic groups that are ‘different’. Authoritarianism is part of a broader cluster of cultural conservative attitudes, especially vivid within the lower social classes (Meloen and Middendorp, 1985; De Witte, 1990). Scheepers, Felling, and Peters (1992) argue that a sociological explanation for an authoritarian attitude lies within the need for compensation for political powerlessness, caused by unfavorable social circumstances.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Adorno, Theodor W., Else Frenkel-Brunswik, David J. Levinson, and R. Nevitt Sanford. 1950. The Authoritarian Personality. New York: Harper and Row. (Abridged edition, 1982, New York: Norton and Company).
Billiet, Jaak B. and Hans De Witte. 2008. Everyday Racism as Predictor of Political Racism in Flemish Belgium. Journal of Social Issues, 64, 253–267.
De Witte, Hans. 1990. Conformisme, radicalisme en machteloosheid: Een onderzoek naar de sociaalculturele en sociaal-economische opvattingen van arbeiders in Vlaanderen. Leuven: HIVA-KU Leuven.
Interuniversitair Steunpunt Politieke-Opinieonderzoek K.U. Leuven. 1991. General Election Study: Codebook and Questionnaire. Leuven: ISPO.
Interuniversitair Steunpunt Politieke-Opinieonderzoek K.U. Leuven. 1995. General Election Study: Codebook and Questionnaire. Leuven: ISPO.
Interuniversitair Steunpunt Politieke-Opinieonderzoek K.U. Leuven. 1999. General Election Study: Codebook and Questionnaire. Leuven: ISPO.
Jöreskog, Karl G. 1971. Statistical Analysis of Sets of Congeneric Tests. 36: 109–133.
Jöreskog, Karl G. 1974. Analyzing Psychological Data by Structural Analysis of Covariance Matrices. In Contemporary Developments in Mathematical Psychology: Vol. II, eds. David H. Krantz, Richard C. Atkinson, R. Duncan Luce, and Patrick Suppes, 1–56. San Francisco: Freeman.
Jöreskog, Karl. G. and Dag Sörbom.1996. LISREL 8: User’s Reference Guide. Chicago: Scientific Software International.
Meloen, Jos D. 1991. De autoritarisme-concepten van Adorno en Altemeyer vergeleken: Theoretische analyse en empirische test. In Onderdanig en intolerant: Lacunes en controverses in autoritarisme-studies, eds. Peer Scheepers and Rob Eisinga, 103–126. Nijmegen: ITS.
Meloen, Jos and Cees Middendorp. 1985. Potentieel fascisme in Nederland. In Jaarboek van de Nederlandse Vereniging van Marktonderzoekers, 93–108. Haarlem: De Vrieseborgh.
Oud, Johan H. L. and Robert A. R. G. Jansen. 2000. Continuous Time State Space Modeling of Panel Data by Means of SEM. 65: 199–215.
Scheepers, Peer, Albert Felling, and Jan Peters. 1992. Anomie, Authoritarianism and Ethnocentrism: Update of a Classic Theme and an Empirical Test. 2: 43–60.
Toharudin, Toni, Johan H. L. Oud, and Jaak B. Billiet. 2008. Assessing the Relationships between Nationalism, Ethnocentrism, and Individualism in Flanders using Bergstrom’s Approximate Discrete Model. 62: 83–109.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2012 VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften | Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Toharudin, T., Oud, J., Billiet, J., Folmer, H. (2012). Measuring Authoritarianism with Different Sets of Items in a Longitudinal Study. In: Salzborn, S., Davidov, E., Reinecke, J. (eds) Methods, Theories, and Empirical Applications in the Social Sciences. VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-531-18898-0_24
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-531-18898-0_24
Publisher Name: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften
Print ISBN: 978-3-531-17130-2
Online ISBN: 978-3-531-18898-0
eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and LawSocial Sciences (R0)