Identity crisis makes adolescents susceptible to totalistic ideological groups

Evidence

Erikson further suggests that political undergrounds utilize youth’s need for fidelity as well as the “store of wrath” held by those deprived of something in which to have faith. A crisis of identity (when the individual who finds self-definition difficult is suffering from ambiguity, fragmentation, and contradiction) makes some adolescents susceptible to “totalism” or to totalistic collective identities that promise certainty. In such collectivities the troubled young find not only an identity but an explanation for their difficulties and a promise for the future. — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 4120

Categorization

• XREF: Directly relevant to the reader’s research focus: Erikson’s ‘totalism’ describes exactly the collapse of strategic into genuine essentialist identity — a collective identity embraced as certain rather than held ironically. — connects to: Postwar prosperity prompted adolescents to reject phoniness and seek meaning — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café: Freedom,…, 890; Permissive upbringing and affluence sensitized young activists to achievement ideology’s costs — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 2652; Adolescents lack defenses against social pressure before identity forms — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 1445 (+1 more)
• QUESTION: Does strategic essentialism presuppose an identity secure enough to hold ironically — precisely what Erikson’s identity-crisis subjects lack? This may explain why the bind is loosened collectively only under conditions of stable identity.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology: Key Readings, 4120