cross-posted from: https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/17079522
To keep it short the reason why some people are ok with authoritarianism is because most structures that we deal with on a daily basis are authoritarian.
Here is evidence that shows a significant amount of people are ok with authoritarianism:
This should be concerning.
And the thing is that it makes sense once you look at what are the most common systems that people interact with the most.
A clear example would be the Boss-Worker relationship. The boss creates a set of objectives/tasks for the worker and the worker sees them out. Rarely does the worker get the chance to set the higher level direction of what they are supposed to be doing with their time leaving them obedient to the boss and their demands.
Another example would be some Parent-Child relationships. Some parents treat their children as people that should show absolute respect towards them just because they are the parents not because they have something that is of value to the child (experience).
Even in the places where we do make democratic decisions those are usually made in ways that are supposed to be supplemental to authoritative decision making. An example would be how we don’t vote on decisions but instead how we vote on others to make decisions for us.
Once you add up all the experiences that someone has throughout their whole life you will see that most of them come into direct contact with authoritarian systems which means it makes that kind of way of thinking familiar and therefore acceptable.
Unlike democracy which is an abstract concept and something we only really experience from time to time.
If we want people to actually stop thinking authoritarianism is ok then we as a society are gonna have to stop using these kinds of systems / ways of thinking in our daily lives.
You must log in or register to comment.
For the vast majority of people currently saying they support authoritarianism, particularly in western countries, it’s not because of parent-child relationships or boss-worker relationships or the fact that we elect representatives to make decisions rather than have a referendum on every decision (which is unworkable in countries of millions of people). It’s purely because the democratic system in their country isn’t working for them.
There was some polling in the UK last year, where a bunch of people were asked about their preferred form of government, and the demographic that had the strongest support for “a strong leader that makes decisions without parliament or courts getting in the way” were the 18-30 age bracket. And it’s not because this group inherently think that having some authority figure telling everyone what to do is a good thing, because they’re of the age when they should be more independent, not less. But they know the democratic system isn’t working, because there are decisions that need to be made on jobs, housing, childcare, healthcare, public transport, climate change, etc, and those decisions aren’t being made. So when people answer a question about whether they want a “strong leader”, they’re not really saying they want authoritarianism (and everything that goes with it). They’re saying “the decisions that need to be made aren’t being made, so we need stronger leaders”.
“Supporting authoritarianism” isn’t really support for the horrors of authoritarianism for the majority. It’s a symptom of economic inequality and politicians who have been captured by vested interests. I note that in the research you linked to, one of the individual comments from respondents was listed:
They need to listen to the working class and the poorer classes. They should not think about profit first and instead focus more on homeless people and the veterans. We should use the money we pay in taxes for the NHS and emergency services and do more for families – affordable resources for child care, more affordable housing…
An authoritarian leader isn’t going to listen to the working class, or do any of the things that person said they wanted (which are all things a lot of people in the UK want). The relationships you described, boss-worker and some parent-child relationships, are not known for the authority figure listening to the subordinate one. The kind of people supporting authoritarianism right now aren’t looking at their boss, who refuses to listen to them about the problems the workplace, employees, and customers are facing, and thinking “yeah, we need more of this”. They’re not looking back fondly at the childhood where their parents refused to listen to them, and just ordered them around.
The only thing they’re thinking is that the economic system they live in is rigged against them, and politicians have stopped listening. They think (incorrectly, in my view) that if the leader of the country was strong enough, they could make the right decisions without being influenced by hedge fund managers and fossil fuel executives and all the other people with economic motivation to prevent those decisions being made. I think if the surveys used a followup question of “is a strong leader who doesn’t listen to the working class, and just uses their power to benefit themselves and their friends, a good way to run a country?” (which is the reality of what authoritarianism is), support for authoritarianism would drop like a stone.