Customer Reviews

Authoritarianism and Polarization in American Politics

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I can say for myself why this book is so important, but I will just quote form Nicholas Kristoff's
recent column about the book:

The book establishes "a fascinating framework of the role of personality types in politics, explored in a recent book, "Authoritarianism and Polarization in American Politics," by two political scientists, Marc J. Hetherington of Vanderbilt University and Jonathan D. Weiler of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. They start by exploring data showing a remarkably strong correlation between state attitudes toward spanking children and voting patterns. Essentially, spanking states go Republican, while those with more timeouts go Democratic.

Professors Hetherington and Weiler contend that the differences stem from profound differences in cognitive styles. Spankers tend to see the world in stark, black-and-white terms, perceive the social order as vulnerable or under attack, tend to make strong distinctions between "us" and "them," and emphasize order and muscular responses to threats. Parents favoring timeouts feel more comfortable with ambiguities, sense less threat, embrace minority groups -- and are less prone to disgust when they see a man eating worms."

So we have worldviews about many things, which means that how we raise our children maps on to
our political views. This is a very important explanation about the differences between red and
blue states.

Because I'm working on a book in the area of personality and politics, one of the criteria on which I based my selection of this book came from one of its reviews indicating it addressed personality dimensions in relation to political orientation. It doesn't. While the book does center around the construct of authoritarianism, the authors emphasize that they are addressing authoritarianism as a worldview and attitude--not a dimension of personality. Perhaps the reviewer missed that distinction, although it can be an important one, depending on one's motivation for selecting this book. This is not to criticize the perspective the authors have chosen to take (they are political scientists and not psychologists), but to clarify how they approach authoritarianism. (In terms of dimensions of personality, you may want to do a little research on "The Big Five." These are probably the most "popular" personality dimensions within the psychology community. Some of these dimensions may be alluded to in the book, but only by inference. Wikipedia has a decent summary of them.)

Another useful attribute of the book for potential readers is its tone. While academic in nature, it hardly requires a PhD to understand the authors premises. But it also does not have the popular appeal of say Twenge and Campbell's "The Narcissism Epidemic: Living in the Age of Entitlement." Assertions are invariably referenced which may be a drag for some readers but a boon for others.

Given the political climate in which we (Americans) currently live, this book provides a useful framework (authoritarianism) for understanding what's going on--at least from a social if not an individual level. Then again, the lack of impact of personality characteristics and how those are generated and relate to political behavior is what is motivating me to write my book.

Since I haven't yet finished "Authoritarianism and Polarization in American Politics," I can't say how or whether the authors address the problems they uncover. But I hope I've read enough to provide some useful decision-making information for prospective readers.

Loved this book and recommend it to anyone interested in better understanding what lies underneath our nation's electoral decisions. Why is America inexorably polarized? I believe this book has the answer.

We've just gone through a summer of intense political difference, and I don't see or hear much that helps explain why the country is in such discord. Thanks to these guys, we have some answers, and new ways of thinking about why the country is so divided. Everyone, read up....

Bill Bishop
Austin, TX

This book is easy to read and provides important if not penetrating insights into how to better understand some of the extraordinary dynamics being generated by the right to far right side of the political spectrum. Authoritarianism while not well accepted by many offers an important perspective in terms of psychological/social elements of how a large group of people can arrive at a position of blind adherence to what are often ineffective and more recently highly destructive social, political and financial ideologies. I strongly recommend the book to anyone wishing to gain insight into contemporary political and social dynamics.

Although this book is horribly dry reading (it IS a scientific study), it is fascinating to see what makes people conservative or liberal and how this difference can be ascertained. In addition, the authors delve into exactly when this split in the great chasm between the political ideologies happened and what caused it.

I've always wondered how we came to see have the political deadlock we have found ourselves in for the last several years. This book sheds a light on the subject that no other book has.

Trying to stay neutral and understand both sides of current emotional debates. Good insight here. Not the whole story, but a thoughtful perspective.