Demagogues exploit anxious followers by externalizing hatred onto 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 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Solidarity degenerates into fear-driven obedience when followers forfeit independent judgment; Outbidders weaponize fear narratives while discounting deferred peace benefits. — Cathy Gormley-Heenan and Roger Macginty, Ethnic Outbidding and Party…, 32; Groups invoke external enemies to justify the suppression of internal disunity — Manuel Borutta and Jan C. Jansen, Vertriebene and Pieds-Noirs in Postwar…, 649 (+12 more)

Broader Connections

• Demagogues channel authoritarian insecurity into hatred of outgroups #corroborates (0.97)
• Demagogues exploit authoritarian insecurity by externalizing blame onto outgroups #corroborates (0.96) — 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 #corroborates (0.95) — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 2434
• Distinct emotions rather than a single pool of hatred drive intergroup prejudice #complicates (0.73) — John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice, 2282