Authoritarianism and Polarization in American Politics

The left and right in America are now divided by politically irreconcilable worldviews, and the root of that divide is authoritarianism.

Marc J. Hetherington (Author), Jonathan D. Weiler (Author)

9780521711241, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 24 August 2009

248 pages, 13 b/w illus. 30 tables
23.1 x 15.2 x 1.5 cm, 0.36 kg

'Where political science has a long tradition of seeing political conflict through the lens of 'issues' debates about public policy, Hetherington and Weiler see the fundamental sorting process as instead a matter of personality. For them the new defining reality of American politics is a choice between authoritarian and non-authoritarian styles of reacting. The widely noted polarization of American politics is from their viewpoint a polarization between people, some of whom hold a worldview where issues are simple, choices black and white, and tradition a reliable guide to action, and others who prefer complexity, nuance, and change. Because these differences of worldview involve cherished symbols, they produce a party politics of deadlock.' James A. Stimson, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

Although politics at the elite level has been polarized for some time, a scholarly controversy has raged over whether ordinary Americans are polarized. This book argues that they are and that the reason is growing polarization of worldviews - what guides people's view of right and wrong and good and evil. These differences in worldview are rooted in what Marc J. Hetherington and Jonathan D. Weiler describe as authoritarianism. They show that differences of opinion concerning the most provocative issues on the contemporary issue agenda - about race, gay marriage, illegal immigration, and the use of force to resolve security problems - reflect differences in individuals' levels of authoritarianism. Events and strategic political decisions have conspired to make all these considerations more salient. The authors demonstrate that the left and the right have coalesced around these opposing worldviews, which has provided politics with more incandescent hues than before.

1. Spanking or time out: a clash of worldviews?
2. Putting polarization in perspective
3. Authoritarianism and non-authoritarianism: concepts and measures
4. Historical account of the roots of worldview evolution
5. How authoritarianism structures contemporary issues
6. Threat and authoritarianism: polarization or convergence
7. Evidence of worldview evolution
8. Immigration: a reinforcing cleavage that constrains the GOP
9. What the 2008 democratic nomination struggle reveals about party polarization
10. A somewhat different take on polarization.

Subject Areas: Comparative politics [JPB], Politics & government [JP]