The lineage of authoritarianism research
Adorno and colleagues (1950) proposed the authoritarian personality as a character structure drawn to fascism, and Altemeyer (1981) established a measurement tradition with the right-wing authoritarianism scale. Feldman (2003) redefined authoritarianism as a tension between valuing social conformity and valuing personal autonomy, popularizing measurement through child-rearing value items.
Interaction with threat
Feldman and Stenner (1997) reported that the extent to which authoritarian predispositions lead to intolerance depends heavily on perceived threat. Stenner (2005) framed this as the authoritarian dynamic: authoritarians express strong racial, political and moral intolerance when they sense normative threats such as distrust of leaders or a breakdown of value consensus. A key point is that differences between authoritarians and non-authoritarians are small when threat is absent.
Political applications and debate
Hetherington and Weiler (2009) argued that authoritarianism became a new axis of American party polarization. By contrast, Hetherington and Suhay (2011) reported that under terrorist threat non-authoritarians shifted sharply toward authoritarian positions, sparking debate over which groups threat moves. The theory sits at the center of research on threat politics alongside integrated threat theory.
FAQ
- What is the authoritarian dynamic in simple terms?
- A preference for order and sameness stays quiet most of the time, but when society seems to be coming apart it surfaces as strong intolerance toward minorities.
- What is normative threat?
- The perception that social order and consensus are breaking down, for example when shared values erode or leaders seem untrustworthy.
Sources reviewed: 2026-10-26
References
- Adorno, T. W., Frenkel-Brunswik, E., Levinson, D. J., & Sanford, R. N. (1950). The authoritarian personality. Harper & Brothers. The classic origin of authoritarianism research.
- Altemeyer, B. (1981). Right-wing authoritarianism. University of Manitoba Press. The RWA scale tradition.
- Feldman, S., & Stenner, K. (1997). Perceived threat and authoritarianism. Political Psychology, 18(4), 741–770. Threat activates authoritarian predispositions.
- Feldman, S. (2003). Enforcing social conformity: A theory of authoritarianism. Political Psychology, 24(1), 41–74. Authoritarianism as conformity versus autonomy.
- Stenner, K. (2005). The authoritarian dynamic. Cambridge University Press. The book that systematized the theory.
- Hetherington, M. J., & Weiler, J. D. (2009). Authoritarianism and polarization in American politics. Cambridge University Press. Authoritarianism structures U.S. polarization.
- Hetherington, M., & Suhay, E. (2011). Authoritarianism, threat, and Americans' support for the war on terror. American Journal of Political Science, 55(3), 546–560. Threat moves non-authoritarians more.