Authoritarianism is more systematically organized in politicians than their formal economic ideologies.

Evidence

I know economic ideologies have been formalized, become known as “schools,” been taught in universities, and been presented and debated in many public forums. I believe politicians have been exposed to at least some of this discussion and have often adopted an “economic philosophy.” But I doubt that anyone ever taught them a system of responses to the many issues raised by the RWA Scale. And yet, those answers are better interconnected, more systematic than the economic ones. If you believe these politicians have economic ideologies, they have an even stronger one regarding authoritarian submission, authoritarian aggression, and conventionalism. — Bob Altemeyer, The Authoritarian Specter, 3476

Categorization

• DEEPTHINKING: A striking claim: an ideology never formally taught (authoritarianism) is more internally coherent than one explicitly taught in universities and public forums. This suggests authoritarianism is self-reinforcing as a worldview rather than learned as doctrine.