Right-Wing Authoritarianism (RWA) Individual ⇔ Group ⇔ Institution ⇔ Society RWA's social role: Deflection of attention from structures of class, capitalism and domination
and the subjection of underdogs/scapegoats. In their book The Authoritarian Personality, Adorno et al. (1950) developed the F scale that measures the authoritarian personality. There were four versions that consisted of 78, 60, 45, and 40 questions organised along nine dimensions. For qualitative research, a comprehensive model of right-wing authoritarianism that has four dimensions can be developed (Figure 4.1).
Right-wing authoritarianism is an ideology and organisational model of society. It integrates top-down leadership, nationalism, the friend/enemy-scheme, and militant patriarchy. Top-down leadership is right-wing authoritarianism’s organisational principle. Nationalism forms its internal identity that is bounded by defining outside enemies who are seen as not belonging to and threatening the nation. Militant patriarchy advocates law-and-order policies and violence as means for solving conflicts.
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Theorists