The Authoritarians

Ever since John W. Dean published his Conservatives Without Conscience in 2006, much interest has been vested in the research of Dr. Bob Altemeyer that was so prominently featured in the book. In CWC, Dean set out to learn why modern conservatives seemed to think and behave in ways diametrically opposite the righteous and moral values they so publicly espoused. What he discovered was an existing body of scientific research tracing back to the cinders of the Holocaust. This research focused on the Authoritarian Personality, which social scientists believe was the enabling element within German society that was so deftly exploited by Adolph Hitler and the Third Reich. Bob Altemeyer studied the authoritarian personality for over 40 years while a professor of psychology. His experiments drew high praise from other scientists, and won the American Association for the Advancement of Science's Prize for Behavioral Science Research. This book summarizes his many findings, and has been widely acclaimed for the relaxed, conversational way the author presents far-reaching and penetrating insights into American life today. -- source: Publisher In the nonfiction audiobook The Authoritarians, psychologist Bob Altemeyer shares his research on the aggressive and hostile nature of the authoritarian personality and the rise of the Right-Wing Authoritarian personality in the United States.... In a clear and direct voice, Altemeyer performs his own fascinating work.

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judahmeekMay 2025

You should look up the free ebook by Bob Altemeyer called Authoritarians. It explains how religious organizations that highly value authority and discourage critical thinking get corrupted.

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pushcxFeb 2025

This is pretty much the premise of Bob Altemeyer's work: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Altemeyer His book The Authoritarians is the one that most elaborates on it, so works that cite or respond to it would probably be exactly what you're looking for.

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wat10000Feb 2025

I mean all along. Obviously this doesn't apply to every Trump supporter, but there's a large core that inherently thinks this way. What's new is that Trump has leaned into this mindset much more than his predecessors, and he's much more obviously immoral by "normal" (i.e. something along the lines of what you and I probably think) standards.

Bob Altemeyer explains this mindset much better than I could in his book The Authoritarians: https://theauthoritarians.org

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BEEdwardsDec 2022

The Authoritarians by Bob Altemeyer

https://theauthoritarians.org/

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rocky_raccoonAug 2020

I can't point you to a book written by a soldier, but you might be able to find some conclusions by reading "The Authoritarians" by Bob Altemeyer[0], which studies, as you say, why people defend/enforce the power of evil people.

[0] https://www.theauthoritarians.org/options-for-getting-the-bo...

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js8Dec 2019

As I mentioned, the exact reasons why people value hierarchies are IMHO not known. But people do value them, although differently. I recommend looking at the book The Authoritarians from Bob Altemeyer, which outlines the mindset of people who are Trump supporters.

There is also some research into universal values like Jonathan Haidt does, which shows that liberals value hierarchy less than conservatives. So people in fact do have somewhat different value systems.

Also, there was a fascinating story from Robert Sapolsky, which showed that in baboons, lack of strict hierarchy can actually benefit the group.

Personally, I am totally willing to take orders from my boss if I have good relationship with him, but I perceive it as helping a fellow human, I am not doing it out of respect to hierarchy. I think this can alternatively explain what you observe.

As I already stated, we have many possible explanations (and also perplexing examples) both pro and against hierarchies, but there is no clear unifying theory. The above is just a sampling.

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