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Part II    Psychodynamic Theories266
personal autonomy andfreedom forthesakeofestablished cultural norms, those with
authoritarian personality tendencies ought tobefearful notofallinterpersonal situa-
tions, butparticularly ofsocial deviance andsocial disorder. Thatis,those insociety 
whochallenge norms oforder ought tobeparticularly troublesome toauthoritarians.
Butler conducted several studies totestthisprediction. Ineach, hegavecollege 
undergraduates the“Right Wing Authoritarianism Scale” (RWA; Altemeyer, 1981), a
22-item scale withstatements suchas“Our country desperately needs amighty leader 
whowilldowhat hastobedone todestroy theradical newways andsinfulness that
areruining us”onwhich participants ratetheirstrength ofagreement. Inthefirstset
ofstudies (2009) students alsorated howafraid theywereofavariety ofitems, situa-
tions, orcircumstances. Inthesecond study (2013), thestudents werepresented with
aslideshow ofvarious items, including animals, dangerous situations, diverse people, 
orscenes ofsocial disorder. Butler found support forhisprediction inallcases. Social 
differences andsocial disorder weredisproportionately feared overother fears by
those whoscored highonauthoritarianism. 
Itseems, then, asErich Fromm theorized, thatpolitical andsocial threats, not
personal threats, aremost strongly related toauthoritarianism. Thisimplies thatthe
ideology associated withauthoritarianism isakindofmotivated social cognition. 
Butler (2009) hypothesizes thatcertain cultural stimuli leadtofear,which thencre-
atesthemotivation foranauthoritarian belief system. Deviance andsocial disorder, 
then, become particularly threatening tosuchpeople, whohavenowdeveloped a
more conventional andrestricted lifestyle. Since so-called deviant behavior suggests 
thatthere areother ways ofliving, authoritarians willbeespecially threatened byit.
Today, intheUnited States andtheEuropean Union, refugees, immigrants andasy-
lumseekers, religious extremist movements, andevenmarriage equality forLGBTQ per-
sonsmight allbeconsidered the“perfect storm” ofsocial andeconomic unrest thatErich 
Fromm would argue opens thedoortoauthoritarianism asanescape. Insuchtimes, polit-
icalfigures likeSilvio Berlusconi inItaly, whocharacterized himself astheonlysavior of
anation struggling against sinister liberal influences, become attractive tovoters (Jebreal, 
2015). HereintheUnited States, asimilar candidate, Donald Trump, announced his
presidential bidin2015 bysaying thathewould “build awall” ontheUnited States’ 
southern border andbanallMuslims fromentering theU.S.untiltheycould bevetted. 
Accepting thenomination forpresident, hetoldthedelegates attheconvention “Ialone 
canfixit.”Such candidates appeal tovoters’ fearsandprovide reassurance intheformof
absolute answers andcertainty. Wemight alldowelltoreadEscape from Freedom inthese 
uncertain times, soastoeducate ourselves about thedangers ofsubmitting tocharismatic 
leaders offering simple solutions tocomplex (and, yes,often frightening) global problems.
Critique of Fromm
Erich Fromm wasperhaps themost brilliant essayist ofallpersonality theorists. He
wrote beautiful essays oninternational politics (Fromm, 1961); ontherelevance of
biblical prophets forpeople today (Fromm, 1986); onthepsychological problems of
theaging (Fromm, 1981); onMarx, Hitler, Freud, andChrist; andonmyriad other 
topics. Regardless ofthetopic, atthecoreofallFromm’s writings canbefound an
unfolding oftheessence ofhuman nature.Final PDF to printer