Recent evidence has revealed a need for balanced evaluations of potential symmetries and asymmetries related to political ideology (e.g., Duarte et al., 2015; Jussim et al., 2015, 2016; Crawford, 2017; Frimer et al., 2017; Proch et al., 2018; Ditto et al., 2019; Eadeh and Chang, 2019; Fiagbenu et al., 2019; Clark and Winegard, 2020; Honeycutt and Jussim, 2020). Using a multi-method approach spanning multiple content areas, validity types, statistical controls, and scale types, the present results consistently show that, just as right-wing persons are sometimes authoritarian, left-wing persons may also be similarly authoritarian. Taken together, this large array of evidence suggests that left-wing authoritarianism is more of a reality than a myth.
Difficult read IMO. It seems there is some haziness in the characterization of LWA because it can exhibit right-wing beliefs. Whether LWA is real or not, I wonder if some perception of it might actually reflect peer pressure on social media platforms more than the existence of authority figures as such. A mainstream crowd that consistently rejects non-mainstream views within a forum can feel like an authority structure.
Stalin is one good example of LWA leaders, others are Ho Chi Minh, Khrushchev etc. If given the chance and power, some fourth wave feminists would definitely become such leaders themselves. The core issue is tribalism and the belief that just because someone subscribes to your ideology they are “good”, and everyone else is “bad”.
That said, I think the thing authoritarianism denies people is self-actualization. As long as someone is not denying the self actualization of another, they’re not authoritarian. This isn’t about centrism or liberalism, this is about letting societies decide things for themselves while minimizing hurt to others because of sociopathy or callousness. From my pov, authoritarianism doesn’t respect human rights or freedoms in favor of tribalism.
