Authoritarianism and social dominance are ideologies, not psychopathologies

Evidence

Altemeyer (1981) has reconceptualized the authoritarian personality as being rooted in ideology, rather than psychodynamics. Right-Wing Authoritarianism (Altemeyer, 1981) assesses a tendency toward group conformity and the acceptance of conservative political ideologies that demean cultural outgroups. People high in Right-Wing Authoritarianism are hypervigilant toward perceived threats to the ingroup, and therefore (especially during difficult life conditions that threaten the ingroup) are likely to scapegoat outgroups. The other most prominent individual difference measure of prejudice, Social Dominance Orientation (Sidanius & Pratto, 1999), assesses a preference for group-based hierarchy. People high in Social Dominance Orientation seek to preserve established dominance hierarchies (which are threatened during times of social upheaval) and may scapegoat to restore ingroup dominance. — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 1602

As Duckitt notes, neither authoritarianism nor the other most prominent individual difference measure of prejudice, social dominance orientation (Sidanius & Pratto, 1999), are related to indices of psychopathology (as Allport would have predicted); rather they are better conceived as individual differences in people’s belief in social and political attitudes or ideologies. Similarly, although Allport recognized the limitations of a scapegoat theory that focused on individuals’ lack of tolerance for frustration, he failed to recognize that scapegoat movements are often group-level phenomena, coordinated by adherence to a socially validated ideology (Glick). — John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice, 153

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines the two dominant modern constructs: Right-Wing Authoritarianism (ingroup conformity, threat hypervigilance) and Social Dominance Orientation (hierarchy preference).
• XREF: Links to current US politics: RWA as ingroup-threat scapegoating, SDO as hierarchy defense during social upheaval. — connects to: The will to dominate presupposes sadism, not vice versa; American authoritarianism manifested as cultural conformism rather than terror — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination: A History…, 531; Authoritarian personality theory holds that a psychological structure, not objective circumstances, determines fascist character — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 1780 (+3 more)
• QUESTION: Worth chasing the Duckitt citation and evidence base that SDO and RWA show null psychopathology correlations.
• corroborated: 4 independent passages support this claim — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 1602; John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice: Fifty Years…, 153