Approfondimento: Authoritarianism

Authoritarianism, the favoring of blind submission to authority, is characteristic of certain individuals, of common belief systems shared by such individuals, and, by extension, of elitist, antidemocratic governments based on such shared beliefs. As an individual trait, authoritarianism was first systematically explored in research presented by Theodor ADORNO and others in The Authoritarian Personality (1950). The study began as an investigation of ANTI-SEMITISM in the United States but led to discovery of numerous correlations between anti-Semitism and other attitudes associated with stereotyped behavior. While authoritarian governments have sometimes been distinguished from totalitarian ones (see TOTALITARIANISM)--for example, in defense of U.S. ties with antidemocratic governments of Latin America during the the 1980s--totalitarianism is in fact an extreme instance of authoritarianism.

(da: Grolier Electronic Publishing)