Demagogues channel authoritarian insecurity into hatred of outgroups

Evidence

Allport suggested that demagogues, and their racist, ethnocentric, nationalist, and fascist rhetoric, would arouse and direct the insecurity and fears of authoritarian personalities towards particular targets, and into particular channels. Demagogues would arise and be particularly successful in social conditions characterized by insecurity, change, innovation, diversity, unconventionality, and instability. “Authoritarian personalities,” Allport argued, “cannot face all this indefiniteness, unconventionality, and loss of familiar anchorage” (1954/1979, p. 413). In these conditions the rhetoric of the demagogue would activate the authoritarians’ yearnings for stability, security, cohesion, and order, and direct it towards the “familiar anchorage” of ethnocentric nationalism and traditionalism. Their dissatisfaction, frustration, and fearfulness would be channeled into blame and hate directed at minorities, immigrants, outgroups, liberals, intellectuals, and radicals. Thus, “demagogy invites the externalization of hatred and anxiety: it is an institutionalized aid to projection … By declaring that every social issue is the result of out-group misconduct, the demagogue consistently avoids focusing his followers’ attention on their own painful inner conflicts” (1954/ 1979, p. 419). — John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice, 2434 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Allport suggested that demagogues, and their racist, ethnocentric, nationalist, and fascist rhetoric, would arouse and direct the insecurity and fears of authoritarian personalities towards particular targets, and into particular channels. Demagogues would arise and be particularly successful in social conditions characterized by insecurity, change, innovation, diversity, unconventionality, and instability. “Authoritarian personalities,” Allport argued, “cannot face all this indefiniteness, unconventionality, and loss of familiar anchorage” (1954/1979, p. 413). In these conditions the rhetoric of the demagogue would activate the authoritarians’ yearnings for stability, security, cohesion, and order, and direct it towards the “familiar anchorage” of ethnocentric nationalism and traditionalism. Their dissatisfaction, frustration, and fearfulness would be channeled into blame and hate directed at minorities, immigrants, outgroups, liberals, intellectuals, and radicals. — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 2434 (#expands, via linked claim)

While he viewed demagogues as typically also having authoritarian personalities, he attributed certain other characteristics to them that set them apart from their more conventional “authoritarian” followers. They were motivated by power, wealth, and success, and were cynical, manipulative, and charismatic enough to use others to try to achieve these goals Allport and Adorno’s Authoritarian Personalities Compared Allport’s concept of the authoritarian personality was very similar to that of Adorno et al. — John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice, 2434 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: High authoritarians readily support persecution of groups including their own. — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology: Key Readings, 917; Demagogues exploit anxious followers by externalizing hatred onto outgroups; Demagogues exploit authoritarian insecurity by externalizing blame onto outgroups — John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice: Fifty Years…, 2434 (+7 more)

Broader Connections

• Demagogues exploit authoritarian insecurity by externalizing blame onto outgroups #corroborates (0.98) — John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice, 2434
• Demagogues succeed by channeling authoritarian insecurity toward outgroup targets during social instability #expands (0.95) — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 2434
• Demagogues are cynical manipulators distinct from their authoritarian followers #complicates (0.75) — John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice, 2434
• Authoritarians on opposing sides are socialized to hate each other despite shared psychology #complicates (0.72) — Bob Altemeyer, The Authoritarian Specter, 1677
• Avoidance of outgroup members can stem from anxiety and unease rather than hatred #complicates (0.72) — John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice, 2254