That was a long, but interesting read.
The TLDR version:
Scientists have been working since the rise of the Nazi's to identify
what makes people flock to extreme political views and a "strongman"
type of leader. They identified sometime in 1990's a psychological
tendency to have an outsized fear of destabilizing social change and
perceived physical threats. They call it authoritarianism partly for
lack of a better name, and partly because it correlates extremely
strongly with the "authoritarian" style of parenting. They can more
reliably identify such people with questions about parenting than with
political questions. The authoritarian psychological tendency
correlates more strongly to whether we'll vote for Donald Trump than any
other indicator. They go on to discuss how the theory explains
political shifts since the 1960's and the broader implications for the
future.
Personally, I've been wondering who the heck are all these people who
listen to Trump talk and think, "yeah that guy should be my president."
These researchers seem to say that the answer is, "people who are afraid
of something."
On 3/12/2016 5:52 PM, Ken Hohhof wrote:
Long read, unusual for an online article. Not sure I buy it all, but
interesting nonetheless.
http://www.vox.com/2016/3/1/11127424/trump-authoritarianism
