This is less a criticism of their research on authoritarianism than a sign of my own confusion and laziness. But, when they say that non-authoritarian people can turn into authoritarians, are they saying that folks who feel very threatened can sometimes respond by changing their minds and deciding they’d rather their children be well-mannered than curious? Obedient rather than self-reliant?
In a really dire environment where your kids are under threat of getting kidnapped or murdered, I can see how this might happen, but not so much just because you’re out of work and there are a lot more brown faces around than there used to be.
There seems to be some definitional sloppiness here. I think it’s more accurate to say that authoritarian people are easily scared, and non-authoritarian people have different values. But when people are legitimately scared, regardless of the objective threat, they begin to act alike.
Not sure the article is clear on this, but it matters for what they’re trying to project for the future of the Republican Party and American politics.
