An authoritarian personality could be publicly socialist yet convert readily to Nazism

Evidence

The original authors recognized that high F scores were not necessarily associated with any particular political view and pointed out the existence of low scorers, supporters of “progressive” policies, who were as rigid and totalitarian as extreme high scorers (Adorno et al., 1950). This datum was among the subtle­ ties lost upon later critics and defenders of the work. It is also worth remem­ bering that the Frankfurt School was not nearly as monolithic in its own political orientation as some subsequent writers have implied (see Stone, Lederer, & Christie, 1993). — Leonard S. Newman and Ralph Erber (eds.), Understanding Genocide, 446 (#expands, via linked claim)

I am proposing, in short, an underlying authoritarian personality that can be either psychologically left-wing or right-wing, depending on who holds power, and can be found at either extreme of the political spectrum. — Bob Altemeyer, The Authoritarian Specter, 2834 (#expands, via linked claim)

These people were filled with hate and anger against everyone who had money and who appeared to enjoy life. That part of the socialist platform which aimed at the overthrow of the propertied classes strongly appealed to them. On the other hand, items such as freedom and equality had not the slightest attraction for them, since they willingly obeyed every powerful authority they admired; they liked to control others, in so far as they had the power to do so. Their unreliability finally came into the open at the point when a programme such as that of the National Socialists was offered to them. This programme not only corresponded with the feelings which had made the Socialist programme attractive but also appealed to that side of their nature which Socialism had not satisfied or had unconsciously opposed. In such cases they were transformed from unreliable leftists into convinced National Socialists. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 712 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Authoritarian workers could transfer loyalty from socialism to Nazism — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 712; An underlying authoritarian personality can attach to either political extreme depending on power. — Bob Altemeyer, The Authoritarian Specter, 2834; One underlying authoritarianism trait explains many disparate attitudes (+6 more)

Related

• Authoritarian workers could transfer loyalty from socialism to Nazism (similarity 0.90)
• Authoritarianism can manifest on the political left as well as right (similarity 0.89)
• A fifth of German proletarian party supporters held authoritarian attitudes (similarity 0.84)
• An underlying authoritarian personality can attach to either political extreme depending on power. (similarity 0.84)
• Authoritarian personality theory holds that a psychological structure, not objective circumstances, determines fascist character (similarity 0.84)
• Authoritarianism is not a single coherent psychological construct (similarity 0.84)
• Left and right authoritarians share one underlying personality structure (similarity 0.84)
• Authoritarian traits may cohere from low education and SES, not psychodynamics (similarity 0.82)
• No evidence demonstrates fascists and communists share an authoritarian personality type (similarity 0.81)
• Authoritarians’ ideological loyalties are arbitrary products of culture, not reason (similarity 0.80)
• A single authoritarian personality type links disparate political violence events (similarity 0.80)
• Authoritarian psychodynamics have never been proven causally, only correlationally (similarity 0.80)
• Authoritarian traits meaningfully shape behavior despite situational influences (similarity 0.80)
• Attributing Holocaust perpetration to authoritarian personality may itself be a fundamental attribution error. (similarity 0.79)
• Only 15% of German workers structurally matched left-wing parties in personality (similarity 0.79)

Broader Connections

• Authoritarian workers could transfer loyalty from socialism to Nazism #corroborates (0.90) — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 712
• An underlying authoritarian personality can attach to either political extreme depending on power. #expands (0.90) — Bob Altemeyer, The Authoritarian Specter, 2834
• Authoritarianism can manifest on the political left as well as right #expands (0.90) — Leonard S. Newman and Ralph Erber (eds.), Understanding Genocide, 446
• Left and right authoritarians share one underlying personality structure #expands (0.85) — Bob Altemeyer, The Authoritarian Specter, 2850
• Authoritarian personality theory holds that a psychological structure, not objective circumstances, determines fascist character #expands (0.80) — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 1780
• One underlying authoritarianism trait explains many disparate attitudes #expands (0.75)
• A single authoritarian personality type links disparate political violence events #expands (0.75) — Bob Altemeyer, The Authoritarian Specter, 75