Can't trust many of them"- and everyone else
regarded
as outside "my own class of people.
Adorno-T-Authoritarian-Personality-Harper-Bros-1950
(Wild sex life)
37. (Talk less)
38. (Plots)
39. (Homosexuals)
41. (Artists)
42. (No sane, normal person)
43. (Familiarity)
44. (Suffering) 4. 79 2. 04
Total mean/person 174. 15 110. 31 Mean/person/item 5. 80 3. 68 Range 5. 4-6. 8 2. 0-4. 1
Standard Deviation: . 86 Reliability; . 87
? CRIMINALITY AND ANTIDEMOCRA TIC TRENDS
asked what things annoy him? most in others, expresses concern about "doing things before little children that you shouldn't," "doing anything out of the way to a little nine-year-old girl. " . . . Ronald is alarmed by the "sexual perversion that you'll find in this country today: it's pretty bad. (Q. ) . . . fellatio . . . sodomy. " Roben's focus is somewhat less extrapunitive but reveals an equally externalizing attitude toward his own sexuality: Sometimes, he admits, "I have let myself slip, let my carnal self get away from me"; but in general he feels that he has "always lived up to" his mother's precept that "a woman is the most perfect thing in the world. "
Similar nonreligious moralism appears in nonsexual contexts.
Eugene believes that "good persons . . . won't smoke or drink," and is "going to lay off drinking. " His moralistic hostility against Negroes for "fighting" and "causing trouble" has already been described. . . . Ronald finds himself disturbed by "petty habits" involving nose, muscles, or skin, such as "snorting," "twitching their shoulders," or "my wife's habit of picking at things with her fingernails. " He is also upset by "greed": "I can't stand anyone who will take something without thinking about the other person. " And he makes repeated references to "polite- ness," complaining that "it's changed around here (in the prison) now-getting so many of these young kids, zootsuiters: don't have any tact at all. "
All 5 of these high-scoring men express generalized moralizations about money or work or both.
Several of them show inhibitions about enjoying money: Its importance is in having "just enough to get along on"; beyond that "it can bring a lot of unhappi- ness" (Eugene). "If it's not too much money, it can give you happiness. If it's too much, it won't. " "To me the only thing you need money for is to satisfy your basic needs: food, clothing, shelter" (Robert). . . . Work for the sake of "discipline" and "control" is exalted by all but Ronald: "I don't think you enjoy things as much wheri you work for them" (Robert). "I think it's a special privilege for a man to have some special handicap: it gives him a special drive" (Robert). "Work don't hurt no people. These child labor laws, I believe, are makin' more trouble than anything else" by preventing children from working to keep themselves "out of trouble" (Clarence). Asked how he and his wife are most alike, Wilbur declares: "Well, she don't like to run around so much and I don't either. We both like to work. " Eugene, although he adds other similarities, says the same thing of his mother and himself: "She likes to work and so do I. " . . . This antipleasure sub- mission to work and hardship as desirable is expressed also in questionnaire Item 44, which exalts the value of "suffering. " This item has a fairly high Discriminatory Power.
The moralism just described appears to be an anxious attempt by these men to keep instinctual impulses repressed and externalized. Their anxiety toward their own impulses is suggested by their responses to the projective question, "What desires do you often have difficulty in controlling? " Their answers reveal efforts to separate their impulses from their conscious selves and to avoid awareness of inner feelings by focusing on external behavior
? THE AUTHORITARIAN PERSONALITY
and situations. Three "desires" thus externalized recur with monotonous regularity: "drinking;" "fighting" or "temper"; and "when I'm out with a lady" or "intercourse. "18
It is not necessary to rely on inference in stating that the prejudiced men's conscience is externalized and therefore undependable. Evidence for this appears in their violations of their own moralism.
Clarence's moralism about sex and drinking may be contrasted with his history of three separate offenses of attempted rape on pre-adolescent girls after getting them drunk. His insistence on the virtue of hard work, and overconcern about people who "rob and steal" is quite interesting in view of the prison medical exam- iner's opinion that he was "wrongly drawing Army compensation for years" on a claim of tuberculosis, and thus avoiding work. . . . The only gross moral violation revealed in Wilbur's interview protocol is his panicky homicidal attack upon his
landlord. Despite his defensive paranoid rationalizations about this, he gives evidence of regarding it, in another compartment of his thinking, as "immoral" in his own terms: "Don't think I would be in so much trouble if I lived up to the church. " . . . Robert, with his moralistic "respect" for "woman" as "the most perfect thing in the world," has let his "carnal self get away" from him in relation to "the most perfect thing": While ostensibly still "in love" with his wife, he engaged in a violent affair with an extremely promiscuous woman whom he finally shot in a quarrel. And despite his insistence that one must work for things as a condition of "enjoying them," he served an earlier prison term for "enjoying" several hundred dollars' worth of forged checks. . . . Ronald's condemnation of "greed" may be compared with his long record of thefts and gang robberies which he engaged in, by his own description, "as a business. " Also after condemning "sexual perversion" and especially homosexuality, he confessed to having had fellatio performed upon him occasionally in prison, but denied that this was homosexuality by disclaiming any emotional involvement in it. . . . Eugene's moralism against "drinking," "fight- ing," and "causing trouble," and his statement that he "likes to work," stand in contrast with his long history of "trouble," including eight jail sentences for drunkenness and one for battery, frequent fights, an earlier term for robbery, and the present term for a series of forged checks.
Relevant here are some suggestive statistical data for the 2 3 inmates whose present term is for a sex offense (rape, "molesting" children, etc. ). The low- est E score obtained by any sex offender is 3? 4 per item;19 the E-scale mean for all sex offenders is 5. I per item, as compared with the general group mean of 4? 7? This high degree of ethnocentric hostility toward outgroups is of particular interest, when it is considered that these men themselves are gener- ally scorned as an outgroup by other inmates. But of even greater significance
18 In contrast, of the 7 inmates whose E scores fall in what would be the low quartile for most other groups (below 2. 6 per item), none gives this type of response. Instead, all of them express inner conflict-especially over passivity strivings-e. g. , "the impulse to say 'to hell with it' when confronted by a difficult problem. "
19 This is excluding one sex offender who scored 2. 7 per item on the E scale, but who was discovered in an interview (not reported here) to have answered the questionnaire rather carelessly. He indicated on questioning that on three E items (and several other items) he had inadvertently recorded "-3" where he had intended "+3? "
? CRIMINALITY AND ANTIDEMOCRA TIC TRENDS
is the fact that two-thirds' of these men ( r 5 out of 2 3) agree with Item 2 5, which states that "Sex crimes . . . deserve more than mere imprisonment; such criminals ought to be publicly whipped, or worse. " Half of them (r2 out of 2 3) agree with Item 39, which expresses punitive hostility toward homosexuals. Three-fourths of them (17 out of 23) agree with Item 35, which reflects projective fantasy preoccupations concerning the prevalence of "wild" sexual "goings-on. " All but 2 (21 out of 23) sex offenders agree with at least one of these items; r6 agree with two items; 7 agree with all three items. These findings provide further evidence that moralism often involves a desperate attempt to keep one's own repressed impulses under tight control. Two of the interviewees (Clarence and a middle scorer not reported here) deny their (repeated) sex offenses, and insist that they were "framed. " It is possible that they actually believe the memory distortions by which they seek to maintain a precarious self-respect. Prison authorities report that the majority of sex offenders deny their offenses, and, further, that such offenders are generally self-righteous and "good. "
Evidence has accumulated in this volume to show that impulses which are moralistically condemned in others symbolize the feared impulses of the moralizer himself. Corresponding, on the other hand, to ethnocentric fears of being abused by fantasied "dominant" outgroups such as Jews, are feelings of distrust, victimization, and cynicism toward the world. Some examples have already been mentioned, such as Wilbur's feelings of being victimized by "the Greeks"; and the personal bitterness of Ronald (a recidivist) toward the governor of the state as "a persecutor"-associated with his resentment at not having been released because of the parole system's "nine thousand restrictions. . . . It stinks. "
Analogous are Clarence's delusions about having been "framed" by "the people in politics" (his defense-rationale against remembering his sex offenses). Clarence expresses succinctly his suspicious conception of the world as a jungle: "Nowadays it's get the other fellow before he gets you. " He seems to want to avoid the neces- sity of having to trust others, by avoiding dependence on anyone; thus the main value of having a lot of money is that a person "don't have to depend on anybody or anything. " Associated with this diffuse distrust of people is a fear of "prying," resentment against people's "not being able to attend to their own business"
(Ronald), against "a guy trying to butt in my business" (Eugene). . . . Robert, whose life goal is to "own three ---stores," feels especially abused by "spongers . . . these so-called shoppers who . . . pick over all the --- and pick out the one on the bottom. "
This suspiciousness is expressed in several questionnaire items, such as those betraying a cynical view of "human nature" as inherently warlike (Item 6), fears of "prying" (Item 31), and fantasies about secret "plots" which "con- trol our lives" (Item 38). The last item, which reflects the victimization theme most directly, has much the highest DiscriminatQry Power.
A further aspect of the high scorers' moral-religious ideology is their de-
? THE AUTHORIT ARIAN PERSONALITY
pendence and submission to authority in religion and morals. Such basic sub- mission is in striking contrast with their exaggerated fears of having to submit to domination by outgroups-Jews, Negroes, labor, "Reds," Russia, etc. Authoritarian submission in the moral-religious sphere is expressed in three main ways. In every prejudiced interviewee, as the foregoing discussion has emphasized, there seems to be a submissive self-negating overconformity to externalized, conventional moralism. This requires no further elaboration here.
A second aspect is the submissive emphasis on unquestioning belief in re- ligious authority. Questionnaire Item 8, which is clearly discriminating, expresses the core of this attitude: Everyone should submit "without ques- tion" to the "decisions" of "some supernatural power" in whom he has "complete faith. " In the interviews, the three most conventional high scorers are definitely traditionalists in religion.
-
Robert reiterates the point that "I believe pretty strongly along the lines of the
Bible. " Both Clarence and Wilbur declare categorically that they have never ques- tioned any of the (fundamentalist) religious teachings of their parents. . . . Re- ligion is more remote for Eugene, who confesses that "I don't know" the Ten Com- mandments or Christ's teachings. But he states that the most important thing in religion is "belief . . . in Jesus Christ, the Bible," and "I've always believed in it. " Even Ronald, who says that he no longer "believes," reveals that his is not the integrated philosophy of "a staunch free-thinker" who has no need for external props of "faith. " Rather, he suffers from a hollow cynicism, and longs to surrender himself dependently to "God. " The most important thing in religion, he declares, is "belief. " "I think that belief in anything-that's the thing that holds you to- gether. " More personally: "It seems as if I want to believe in the Supreme Being, but try and keep it suppressed. " The source of this conflict is suggested later in discussing Ronald's relations with his father.
The third aspect of authoritarian submission in religion on the part of these men is their submissive relationship to their deity, conceived as a dominating "supreme" power.
God is "someone a lot bigger and stronger than anyone on this earth (Robert), who "rules all things" (Clarence), and whose "word" in the Bible one is called upon to "live up to" (Wilbur) and "abide by" (Robert). Ronald's longing for such sub- mission has just been mentioned. It is of interest that Eugene, who never knew his father, is the only one of these men whose conception of God appears to be quite blank: "Just believe in it and that's about all. "
The prejudiced men's repression of a large part of their selves, their intel- lectual-emotional submissiveness in the moral-religious sphere, their anti- intraceptive narrowing of inner freedom-all these trends weaken their intel- lectual strength. Loss of conscious awareness of so much of one's self tends to undermine one's confidence in human ability to understand the world in general, and to render one. susceptible to various forms of mysticism-espe- cially mystical interpretations of human behavior. These trends are thus con-
? CRIMINALITY AND ANTIDEMOCRA TIC TRENDS
ducive to agreement with such questionnaire items, all clearly discriminating between high and low quartiles, as those stressing the limitations of human understanding (Item 4), admitting belief in astrology (Item 29), and assuming a mystical-hereditarian (externalized) explanation for some people's "urge to jump from high places" (Item 16). The general tendency toward mysti- cism and intellectual defeatism appears as a formal characteristic of many quotations from the present high scorers.
3. F ASCISTS
Certain attitudes implicit in the approach of the pseudodemocratic high scorers break through explicitly in the fascists. To begin with, the authori- tarian hostility toward people implicit in moralism appears in the fascists as open hate and contempt for people, directed especially toward moral-out- groups. The attempt to bolster up self-esteem by identifying oneself with an (hereditarian) elite, is also more openly expressed by these men.
Floyd shows the hatred for people in its most extreme form, when asked what things irritate him most in others. "Just that they're people! (How do you mean? ) Oh, the majority are ignorant, close to animals as anything else. I mean dumb animals! (Can you elaborate on that? ) They haven't got sense enough to see things as they are, they are easily swayed, crude, uncouth, they are like a pack. Show 'em a leader and they will go anywhere. " . . . Buck's authoritarian hate is not "system- atized" into an explicit ideology like Floyd's, but his interview protocol is filled with expressions of hate and contempt for "slummy women" and "goddam ch- - " ; for " j - - o - - happy idiots," "sex maniacs," "goddam syphilitic people" (homosexuals); "people that go around stealin' ";other inmates-"Hell, you can't have real friends in here. . . . Stab you in the back.
Can't trust many of them"- and everyone else regarded as outside "my own class of people. " . . . Adrian is too deferential to use the same strong language as these men, but his antidemocratic hatreds seem clear. His contempt for "people who never had anything" and for workers generally has already been mentioned. Interesting is his emphatic dichot- omy between men and women, and his authoritarian hostility toward both. It is men who evoke his deepest anxiety and hate: "A lot of people irritate me, a lot of men irritate me by what I think is a superior attitude that women don't usually have"; "all men are more or less supercilious. " Having self-protectively identified himself with what he conceives as the submissive-dependent role of women vis-a- vis men-"1 identify myself with the dependent kind" of woman-Adrian adopts an essentially paranoid attitude toward all men in terms of this identification: "I don't think men respect women, or anything about women, the way they ought to. . . . Women aren't inferior to men. If anything, they are superior! " (The possi- bility of equality is alien to his thinking; the only choices he knows are to submit or to dominate, to be superior or inferior. ) Yet, in his role as would-be aristocrat, Adrian shares the same chauvinistic attitudes toward women which (in his paranoid submissive-"feminine" role) he ostensibly criticizes. As a persecuted "woman" he protests that "women make better business women than men do"; but as an aristo- crat, "I don't approve of women in business. " He even mentions an episode in which he was strongly condemned by a woman for his "supercilious" attitude toward her and toward women who work.
? 8p THE AUTHORITARIAN PERSONALITY
The lack of a genuine conscience is scarcely even concealed by a moralistic fac;ade in the fascists. They display an externalized, undeveloped superego. One aspect of this is an absence of inner guilt over violation of values; no ethical values have really been incorporated into the self. What superego activity exists is almost entirely limited to fear of external punish. ment or social ostracism.
Buck suggests in almost so many words that his superego is merely an external mystical "power": "There must be some power over us to punish us. . . . He's sure givin' me hell, bein' in here. " This "hell" is not the torture of a guilty con- science. On the contrary, Buck explains that being in prison "hurts my pride" and "hurts my business," when "I could be out there makin' money all the time. " The cause of his delinquency (a long trail of bad checks, passed on an extended spree with a woman) is for him purely external: Lying about many details, he bemoans that "a man of my intelligence20 let some damn broad put me behind bars. " . . . Floyd, too, shows no signs of actual guilt over his long record of delinquencies. On his admission to prison he is described by an interviewer as feeling "that his present series of violent robberies doesn't mean a thing. " To the present examiner, he mentions these as "just something that happened. " He is reported to have said on admission: "We heard about others getting caught but couldn't believe we would. " . . . Adrian attributes his various delinquencies to drinking: "That's all my trouble is. " According to the initial prison interview report, "he does not feel that he has any serious problem except a tendency to get very drunk when discouraged. " Adrian's conscience, too, is organized chiefly around fears of ostracism and of punitive agencies mystically assigned to an "intangible something" outside himself: "I do believe in retribution. We pay right here. I've proved that in my own life. We think we can get away with things. It's an illusion. " (Adrian has spent "most of my life" in jails, prison, or "on probation. ") With respect to ostracism: "I have always been greatly concerned with what other people thought about me. " As will be elaborated later, he is especially apprehensive over rejection by his father, who "haunts me" and whose approval is required to allay Adrian's anxiety: "I'm always wondering if he would approve of this or approve of that. "
A second aspect of the fascists' undeveloped superego is its domination by the pleasure principle. They are quite unable to postpone gratification. Unable to pursue any integrated long-term achievement goals, they are at the mercy of an imperious oral-demandingness.
Describing with much braggadocio his sharp dealings in cattle trading (actually, he lost a sizeable inheritance by mismanagement and drunken neglect), Buck be- moans openly that ordinary ways of doing business are "too damn slow for me. " (Recall his anti-Semitic projection about Jews' "beatin' a guy out of his money. ") Admittedly, "money is the main object. . . . Can't buy nothin' without money. . . . Can't buy whiskey. "
These attitudes are part of an essentially egocentric conception of reality. The following is one of many similar remarks made by Buck in his discussion of politico-economic affairs:
"I never paid no attention to that---; get me out of here and out on that damn 20 Buck obtained a Wechsler-Bellevue Full-Scale I. Q. of 83.
? CRIMINALITY AND ANTIDEMOCRA TIC TRENDS
range is all I want. " . . . Simih1rly, Floyd states that the $59 a week he received on his last job (which he held for a month) was "too slow" because "I started from scratch. " "Had to acquire everything: clothes, quarters, the fundamentals. " Detail- ing on admission to the prison some of the robberies and orgies of his gang, Floyd explains that "We had to have money to operate on: We spent $40 or so for our dinner parties. " . . . Adrian admits that from infancy he "usually got my way. " "In fact, all I ever had to do was cry about anything. " At the several boarding schools where his father placed him after his mother's death (when he was 5), "I was incorrigible, left school when I pleased. I overdrew my charge account . . . " His self-centered definition of reality is made explicit: "When things don't person- ally concern me, they just don't exist for me. "
Implicit in these men's weak conscience, their infantile-demanding im- pulses, and their egocentric view of the world, is a trait which governs their entire behavior. This is their extreme (personal) opportunism. The disregard of principle in their personal behavior corresponds with the ideological opportunism of their racism and reactionism. The personal opportunism is usually expressed in the service of infantile attitudes of omnipotence, and of trying to deny personal weakness.
Buck's pathological lying has been mentioned. As for his other offenses, he has served time for obtaining money on false pretenses, and for failure to provide for his children. He was arrested on one occasion for "molesting" his own children (girl then age 2-3, boy age 4-5), but it is reported the charges were dropped be- cause the children were too small to testify. . . . Floyd's delinquencies are less dramatic, but equally capricious. They include two jail sentences for disturbing the peace; an Army record of alternating between the guardhouse and repeated A. W. O. L. 's until he was discharged; and a series of armed gang robberies under- taken as an easy way of making a lot of money "to operate on. " Relevant here is Floyd's stated desire to marry a "wealthy woman," who should have "fair physical attractions" but whose personality he will "take as it comes. " . . . Adrian's delin- quencies include his self-styled "incorrigibility" at boarding schools (truancy, re- peatedly overdrawing his charge accounts, etc. ); numerous jail sentences for drunkenness and homosexual prostitution; and robbery. "I had probation, it seems to me, most of my life. " He supported himself mainly by prostitution, and by his own statement "never had any (sexual) relations with anyone that didn't have money connected with it. " He admits that some men attract him more than others, but "I never let preferences stand in the way. . . . The only thing I was ever in- terested in was the rent. "
The essentially frantic nature of these men's approach to life suggests a desperate inner emptiness and lack of moorings. This hollowness may pro- vide part of the basis for their wish to submit to "strong" political "leader- ship. " Further, any religious leanings of these men might be expected to express cravings for authoritarian submission. This would be expected to differ from the religious authoritarian submission of other high scorers in two interrelated aspects. As in other conflicts in the fascists, the craving for religious submission might very well be explicit rather than implicit; and since dominance-submission conflicts are involved, this craving might be
? THE AUTHORIT ARIAN PERSONALITY
expressed with open ideological opportunism. It happens that Buck "never did think much about religion," but Adrian and Floyd reveal these very characteristics clearly. Floyd's opportunism takes the form of highly egocen- tric (as well as confused) "criteria" for belief, with no apparent interest in considerations of evidence or truth-falsity.
Floyd states that before he was shot (almost fatally) in his last gang robbery, he was "reaching for something" and "wanted" to believe in God. (He had never had any religious training; his father was a free-thinker, and he had never known his mother. ) But "I just couldn't feature that a human being, an intelligence, could be obliterated so easily. " Having been thus let down "personally" by the God he was "reaching for" (in that his delinquency led to disaster), he could no longer "believe. " . . . Adrian's religious training consisted of very early exposure to the Christian Science of a governess and living in Episcopal boarding schools from the ages of 8 to I 5. At I 5 he tried to submit to what for him seemed clearly to represent religious totalitarianism and voluntary self-emasculation: "I very seriously went into the Church of Rome at I5" to become a priest-not because of any specific religious convictions, but "because I believed and still do . . . that the Catholic Church is the only true church," since "she was the church founded by Christ. " "She was the first" and therefore "the other churches had no real excuse to break away. " His fascistic inclinations are stated openly: "I respect her as a political organization. I think it would be better to have everything under one head". It would save dissension. " Adrian's father forcibly interfered, however, to prevent his entry into the priesthood. Adrian drifted until he became "very interested in Christian Science" with quite practical motives: "I'm not positive I believe in Christian Sci- ence, but there's much in it that seems to help me. . . . I don't try to apply Christian
Science to physical things . . . but my worries, mental things-there's where it helps me most. " In anticipation of parole, he wrote to two Christian Science practitioners for aid in lining up a job (a prerequisite to being granted parole). When both of them criticized him for "trying to manifest a job" instead of relying mystically upon "the Divine Employer," Adrian was "never so disgusted in my life. " But Adrian admittedly has "got to have a God" to submit to, "So what do you think I took up! " The answer is "Hinduism," which "teaches you discipline" such as "cut- ting down on cigarettes. " Adrian summarizes his approach to his latest ideological "manipulandum" in this way: "It's practical. That's the main thing. "
4. LOW SCORERS
The moral-religious ideology of the low-scoring interviewees is quite dif- ferent from that of the prejudiced men. They are relatively free of moralism, and sometimes verbalize explicitly antimoralistic sentiments.
Thus, for Art religion has "nothing to do with keeping laws, except the Golden Rule. " Highly objectionable to Don is the idea of religion as "abiding by a certain set of rules. " Probing reveals no sign of rejection in any of the 4 low scorers toward atheists or non-Christians.
They speak ofreligion primarily in terms of ethical values. Religion is "whatever spiritual qualities you have within yourself" (Art). This orienta- tion is embedded in more individualized relationships to themselves and other people, as compared with the high scorers' impersonalization of such rela-
? Bss
tionships. Different features of this ethical approach are stressed by each. Jim expresses most clearly the aspect of nurturant-affiliative attitudes toward people:
"I look on God as mostly the goodness in all peoples. . . . If everyone . . . carried out the principles that religion expounds, it would be a better world. (How do you mean? ) To treat others as a person would wish to be treated himself, and to help those less fortunate than oneself, and to be a part of the community or society that one is in, to take an active part in it, and being kind and generous, and to more or less have a high regard for your fellow human being. " Art, too, conceives of God, not as a person, but "more a power of good. . . . God is a force. "
Another aspect is the emphasis on full expression of the individual person- ality and "happiness on earth. "
Don declares that his concept of a hereafter was nicely expressed by a girl-friend who said that "if she believed in a hereafter it would mean developing one's unde- veloped talents. " For Jim "the only happiness that we really know of is here on earth; so why not try to enjoy the people and things on this earth, rather than a life somewhere else. "
Further, a rich inner life is a religious value.
Religion "gives you some access to your thoughts" (Dick). Prayer is conceived not as a mode of securing gratification of personal desires or of paying obeisance to a parent-substitute God. Rather, prayer is something which in and of itself "can help a person" (Dick); which "helps form what you're to be" (Don); "a personal thing that happens when the lights are out before you retire. Not 'I want something or other,' but consciously putting into words so as to place whatever you are look- ing for into a positive plane" (Art).
Opposed to the prejudiced men's authoritarian submission in moral-religi- ous matters is the insistence upon individuality in the credos of the low scorers.
"Religion is a personal thing. . . . Religion is as individual to me as my finger- prints, or as yours are to you" (Art). Dick explains his change from a Baptist to a Christian Scientist partly in terms of his objection to the teachings of a Navy chaplain, and especially the chaplain's efforts to "force us to come to church . . . I believe it's a man's personal affair. " It happened that Dick "got hold of a Christian Science textbook, liked the ideas .
37. (Talk less)
38. (Plots)
39. (Homosexuals)
41. (Artists)
42. (No sane, normal person)
43. (Familiarity)
44. (Suffering) 4. 79 2. 04
Total mean/person 174. 15 110. 31 Mean/person/item 5. 80 3. 68 Range 5. 4-6. 8 2. 0-4. 1
Standard Deviation: . 86 Reliability; . 87
? CRIMINALITY AND ANTIDEMOCRA TIC TRENDS
asked what things annoy him? most in others, expresses concern about "doing things before little children that you shouldn't," "doing anything out of the way to a little nine-year-old girl. " . . . Ronald is alarmed by the "sexual perversion that you'll find in this country today: it's pretty bad. (Q. ) . . . fellatio . . . sodomy. " Roben's focus is somewhat less extrapunitive but reveals an equally externalizing attitude toward his own sexuality: Sometimes, he admits, "I have let myself slip, let my carnal self get away from me"; but in general he feels that he has "always lived up to" his mother's precept that "a woman is the most perfect thing in the world. "
Similar nonreligious moralism appears in nonsexual contexts.
Eugene believes that "good persons . . . won't smoke or drink," and is "going to lay off drinking. " His moralistic hostility against Negroes for "fighting" and "causing trouble" has already been described. . . . Ronald finds himself disturbed by "petty habits" involving nose, muscles, or skin, such as "snorting," "twitching their shoulders," or "my wife's habit of picking at things with her fingernails. " He is also upset by "greed": "I can't stand anyone who will take something without thinking about the other person. " And he makes repeated references to "polite- ness," complaining that "it's changed around here (in the prison) now-getting so many of these young kids, zootsuiters: don't have any tact at all. "
All 5 of these high-scoring men express generalized moralizations about money or work or both.
Several of them show inhibitions about enjoying money: Its importance is in having "just enough to get along on"; beyond that "it can bring a lot of unhappi- ness" (Eugene). "If it's not too much money, it can give you happiness. If it's too much, it won't. " "To me the only thing you need money for is to satisfy your basic needs: food, clothing, shelter" (Robert). . . . Work for the sake of "discipline" and "control" is exalted by all but Ronald: "I don't think you enjoy things as much wheri you work for them" (Robert). "I think it's a special privilege for a man to have some special handicap: it gives him a special drive" (Robert). "Work don't hurt no people. These child labor laws, I believe, are makin' more trouble than anything else" by preventing children from working to keep themselves "out of trouble" (Clarence). Asked how he and his wife are most alike, Wilbur declares: "Well, she don't like to run around so much and I don't either. We both like to work. " Eugene, although he adds other similarities, says the same thing of his mother and himself: "She likes to work and so do I. " . . . This antipleasure sub- mission to work and hardship as desirable is expressed also in questionnaire Item 44, which exalts the value of "suffering. " This item has a fairly high Discriminatory Power.
The moralism just described appears to be an anxious attempt by these men to keep instinctual impulses repressed and externalized. Their anxiety toward their own impulses is suggested by their responses to the projective question, "What desires do you often have difficulty in controlling? " Their answers reveal efforts to separate their impulses from their conscious selves and to avoid awareness of inner feelings by focusing on external behavior
? THE AUTHORITARIAN PERSONALITY
and situations. Three "desires" thus externalized recur with monotonous regularity: "drinking;" "fighting" or "temper"; and "when I'm out with a lady" or "intercourse. "18
It is not necessary to rely on inference in stating that the prejudiced men's conscience is externalized and therefore undependable. Evidence for this appears in their violations of their own moralism.
Clarence's moralism about sex and drinking may be contrasted with his history of three separate offenses of attempted rape on pre-adolescent girls after getting them drunk. His insistence on the virtue of hard work, and overconcern about people who "rob and steal" is quite interesting in view of the prison medical exam- iner's opinion that he was "wrongly drawing Army compensation for years" on a claim of tuberculosis, and thus avoiding work. . . . The only gross moral violation revealed in Wilbur's interview protocol is his panicky homicidal attack upon his
landlord. Despite his defensive paranoid rationalizations about this, he gives evidence of regarding it, in another compartment of his thinking, as "immoral" in his own terms: "Don't think I would be in so much trouble if I lived up to the church. " . . . Robert, with his moralistic "respect" for "woman" as "the most perfect thing in the world," has let his "carnal self get away" from him in relation to "the most perfect thing": While ostensibly still "in love" with his wife, he engaged in a violent affair with an extremely promiscuous woman whom he finally shot in a quarrel. And despite his insistence that one must work for things as a condition of "enjoying them," he served an earlier prison term for "enjoying" several hundred dollars' worth of forged checks. . . . Ronald's condemnation of "greed" may be compared with his long record of thefts and gang robberies which he engaged in, by his own description, "as a business. " Also after condemning "sexual perversion" and especially homosexuality, he confessed to having had fellatio performed upon him occasionally in prison, but denied that this was homosexuality by disclaiming any emotional involvement in it. . . . Eugene's moralism against "drinking," "fight- ing," and "causing trouble," and his statement that he "likes to work," stand in contrast with his long history of "trouble," including eight jail sentences for drunkenness and one for battery, frequent fights, an earlier term for robbery, and the present term for a series of forged checks.
Relevant here are some suggestive statistical data for the 2 3 inmates whose present term is for a sex offense (rape, "molesting" children, etc. ). The low- est E score obtained by any sex offender is 3? 4 per item;19 the E-scale mean for all sex offenders is 5. I per item, as compared with the general group mean of 4? 7? This high degree of ethnocentric hostility toward outgroups is of particular interest, when it is considered that these men themselves are gener- ally scorned as an outgroup by other inmates. But of even greater significance
18 In contrast, of the 7 inmates whose E scores fall in what would be the low quartile for most other groups (below 2. 6 per item), none gives this type of response. Instead, all of them express inner conflict-especially over passivity strivings-e. g. , "the impulse to say 'to hell with it' when confronted by a difficult problem. "
19 This is excluding one sex offender who scored 2. 7 per item on the E scale, but who was discovered in an interview (not reported here) to have answered the questionnaire rather carelessly. He indicated on questioning that on three E items (and several other items) he had inadvertently recorded "-3" where he had intended "+3? "
? CRIMINALITY AND ANTIDEMOCRA TIC TRENDS
is the fact that two-thirds' of these men ( r 5 out of 2 3) agree with Item 2 5, which states that "Sex crimes . . . deserve more than mere imprisonment; such criminals ought to be publicly whipped, or worse. " Half of them (r2 out of 2 3) agree with Item 39, which expresses punitive hostility toward homosexuals. Three-fourths of them (17 out of 23) agree with Item 35, which reflects projective fantasy preoccupations concerning the prevalence of "wild" sexual "goings-on. " All but 2 (21 out of 23) sex offenders agree with at least one of these items; r6 agree with two items; 7 agree with all three items. These findings provide further evidence that moralism often involves a desperate attempt to keep one's own repressed impulses under tight control. Two of the interviewees (Clarence and a middle scorer not reported here) deny their (repeated) sex offenses, and insist that they were "framed. " It is possible that they actually believe the memory distortions by which they seek to maintain a precarious self-respect. Prison authorities report that the majority of sex offenders deny their offenses, and, further, that such offenders are generally self-righteous and "good. "
Evidence has accumulated in this volume to show that impulses which are moralistically condemned in others symbolize the feared impulses of the moralizer himself. Corresponding, on the other hand, to ethnocentric fears of being abused by fantasied "dominant" outgroups such as Jews, are feelings of distrust, victimization, and cynicism toward the world. Some examples have already been mentioned, such as Wilbur's feelings of being victimized by "the Greeks"; and the personal bitterness of Ronald (a recidivist) toward the governor of the state as "a persecutor"-associated with his resentment at not having been released because of the parole system's "nine thousand restrictions. . . . It stinks. "
Analogous are Clarence's delusions about having been "framed" by "the people in politics" (his defense-rationale against remembering his sex offenses). Clarence expresses succinctly his suspicious conception of the world as a jungle: "Nowadays it's get the other fellow before he gets you. " He seems to want to avoid the neces- sity of having to trust others, by avoiding dependence on anyone; thus the main value of having a lot of money is that a person "don't have to depend on anybody or anything. " Associated with this diffuse distrust of people is a fear of "prying," resentment against people's "not being able to attend to their own business"
(Ronald), against "a guy trying to butt in my business" (Eugene). . . . Robert, whose life goal is to "own three ---stores," feels especially abused by "spongers . . . these so-called shoppers who . . . pick over all the --- and pick out the one on the bottom. "
This suspiciousness is expressed in several questionnaire items, such as those betraying a cynical view of "human nature" as inherently warlike (Item 6), fears of "prying" (Item 31), and fantasies about secret "plots" which "con- trol our lives" (Item 38). The last item, which reflects the victimization theme most directly, has much the highest DiscriminatQry Power.
A further aspect of the high scorers' moral-religious ideology is their de-
? THE AUTHORIT ARIAN PERSONALITY
pendence and submission to authority in religion and morals. Such basic sub- mission is in striking contrast with their exaggerated fears of having to submit to domination by outgroups-Jews, Negroes, labor, "Reds," Russia, etc. Authoritarian submission in the moral-religious sphere is expressed in three main ways. In every prejudiced interviewee, as the foregoing discussion has emphasized, there seems to be a submissive self-negating overconformity to externalized, conventional moralism. This requires no further elaboration here.
A second aspect is the submissive emphasis on unquestioning belief in re- ligious authority. Questionnaire Item 8, which is clearly discriminating, expresses the core of this attitude: Everyone should submit "without ques- tion" to the "decisions" of "some supernatural power" in whom he has "complete faith. " In the interviews, the three most conventional high scorers are definitely traditionalists in religion.
-
Robert reiterates the point that "I believe pretty strongly along the lines of the
Bible. " Both Clarence and Wilbur declare categorically that they have never ques- tioned any of the (fundamentalist) religious teachings of their parents. . . . Re- ligion is more remote for Eugene, who confesses that "I don't know" the Ten Com- mandments or Christ's teachings. But he states that the most important thing in religion is "belief . . . in Jesus Christ, the Bible," and "I've always believed in it. " Even Ronald, who says that he no longer "believes," reveals that his is not the integrated philosophy of "a staunch free-thinker" who has no need for external props of "faith. " Rather, he suffers from a hollow cynicism, and longs to surrender himself dependently to "God. " The most important thing in religion, he declares, is "belief. " "I think that belief in anything-that's the thing that holds you to- gether. " More personally: "It seems as if I want to believe in the Supreme Being, but try and keep it suppressed. " The source of this conflict is suggested later in discussing Ronald's relations with his father.
The third aspect of authoritarian submission in religion on the part of these men is their submissive relationship to their deity, conceived as a dominating "supreme" power.
God is "someone a lot bigger and stronger than anyone on this earth (Robert), who "rules all things" (Clarence), and whose "word" in the Bible one is called upon to "live up to" (Wilbur) and "abide by" (Robert). Ronald's longing for such sub- mission has just been mentioned. It is of interest that Eugene, who never knew his father, is the only one of these men whose conception of God appears to be quite blank: "Just believe in it and that's about all. "
The prejudiced men's repression of a large part of their selves, their intel- lectual-emotional submissiveness in the moral-religious sphere, their anti- intraceptive narrowing of inner freedom-all these trends weaken their intel- lectual strength. Loss of conscious awareness of so much of one's self tends to undermine one's confidence in human ability to understand the world in general, and to render one. susceptible to various forms of mysticism-espe- cially mystical interpretations of human behavior. These trends are thus con-
? CRIMINALITY AND ANTIDEMOCRA TIC TRENDS
ducive to agreement with such questionnaire items, all clearly discriminating between high and low quartiles, as those stressing the limitations of human understanding (Item 4), admitting belief in astrology (Item 29), and assuming a mystical-hereditarian (externalized) explanation for some people's "urge to jump from high places" (Item 16). The general tendency toward mysti- cism and intellectual defeatism appears as a formal characteristic of many quotations from the present high scorers.
3. F ASCISTS
Certain attitudes implicit in the approach of the pseudodemocratic high scorers break through explicitly in the fascists. To begin with, the authori- tarian hostility toward people implicit in moralism appears in the fascists as open hate and contempt for people, directed especially toward moral-out- groups. The attempt to bolster up self-esteem by identifying oneself with an (hereditarian) elite, is also more openly expressed by these men.
Floyd shows the hatred for people in its most extreme form, when asked what things irritate him most in others. "Just that they're people! (How do you mean? ) Oh, the majority are ignorant, close to animals as anything else. I mean dumb animals! (Can you elaborate on that? ) They haven't got sense enough to see things as they are, they are easily swayed, crude, uncouth, they are like a pack. Show 'em a leader and they will go anywhere. " . . . Buck's authoritarian hate is not "system- atized" into an explicit ideology like Floyd's, but his interview protocol is filled with expressions of hate and contempt for "slummy women" and "goddam ch- - " ; for " j - - o - - happy idiots," "sex maniacs," "goddam syphilitic people" (homosexuals); "people that go around stealin' ";other inmates-"Hell, you can't have real friends in here. . . . Stab you in the back.
Can't trust many of them"- and everyone else regarded as outside "my own class of people. " . . . Adrian is too deferential to use the same strong language as these men, but his antidemocratic hatreds seem clear. His contempt for "people who never had anything" and for workers generally has already been mentioned. Interesting is his emphatic dichot- omy between men and women, and his authoritarian hostility toward both. It is men who evoke his deepest anxiety and hate: "A lot of people irritate me, a lot of men irritate me by what I think is a superior attitude that women don't usually have"; "all men are more or less supercilious. " Having self-protectively identified himself with what he conceives as the submissive-dependent role of women vis-a- vis men-"1 identify myself with the dependent kind" of woman-Adrian adopts an essentially paranoid attitude toward all men in terms of this identification: "I don't think men respect women, or anything about women, the way they ought to. . . . Women aren't inferior to men. If anything, they are superior! " (The possi- bility of equality is alien to his thinking; the only choices he knows are to submit or to dominate, to be superior or inferior. ) Yet, in his role as would-be aristocrat, Adrian shares the same chauvinistic attitudes toward women which (in his paranoid submissive-"feminine" role) he ostensibly criticizes. As a persecuted "woman" he protests that "women make better business women than men do"; but as an aristo- crat, "I don't approve of women in business. " He even mentions an episode in which he was strongly condemned by a woman for his "supercilious" attitude toward her and toward women who work.
? 8p THE AUTHORITARIAN PERSONALITY
The lack of a genuine conscience is scarcely even concealed by a moralistic fac;ade in the fascists. They display an externalized, undeveloped superego. One aspect of this is an absence of inner guilt over violation of values; no ethical values have really been incorporated into the self. What superego activity exists is almost entirely limited to fear of external punish. ment or social ostracism.
Buck suggests in almost so many words that his superego is merely an external mystical "power": "There must be some power over us to punish us. . . . He's sure givin' me hell, bein' in here. " This "hell" is not the torture of a guilty con- science. On the contrary, Buck explains that being in prison "hurts my pride" and "hurts my business," when "I could be out there makin' money all the time. " The cause of his delinquency (a long trail of bad checks, passed on an extended spree with a woman) is for him purely external: Lying about many details, he bemoans that "a man of my intelligence20 let some damn broad put me behind bars. " . . . Floyd, too, shows no signs of actual guilt over his long record of delinquencies. On his admission to prison he is described by an interviewer as feeling "that his present series of violent robberies doesn't mean a thing. " To the present examiner, he mentions these as "just something that happened. " He is reported to have said on admission: "We heard about others getting caught but couldn't believe we would. " . . . Adrian attributes his various delinquencies to drinking: "That's all my trouble is. " According to the initial prison interview report, "he does not feel that he has any serious problem except a tendency to get very drunk when discouraged. " Adrian's conscience, too, is organized chiefly around fears of ostracism and of punitive agencies mystically assigned to an "intangible something" outside himself: "I do believe in retribution. We pay right here. I've proved that in my own life. We think we can get away with things. It's an illusion. " (Adrian has spent "most of my life" in jails, prison, or "on probation. ") With respect to ostracism: "I have always been greatly concerned with what other people thought about me. " As will be elaborated later, he is especially apprehensive over rejection by his father, who "haunts me" and whose approval is required to allay Adrian's anxiety: "I'm always wondering if he would approve of this or approve of that. "
A second aspect of the fascists' undeveloped superego is its domination by the pleasure principle. They are quite unable to postpone gratification. Unable to pursue any integrated long-term achievement goals, they are at the mercy of an imperious oral-demandingness.
Describing with much braggadocio his sharp dealings in cattle trading (actually, he lost a sizeable inheritance by mismanagement and drunken neglect), Buck be- moans openly that ordinary ways of doing business are "too damn slow for me. " (Recall his anti-Semitic projection about Jews' "beatin' a guy out of his money. ") Admittedly, "money is the main object. . . . Can't buy nothin' without money. . . . Can't buy whiskey. "
These attitudes are part of an essentially egocentric conception of reality. The following is one of many similar remarks made by Buck in his discussion of politico-economic affairs:
"I never paid no attention to that---; get me out of here and out on that damn 20 Buck obtained a Wechsler-Bellevue Full-Scale I. Q. of 83.
? CRIMINALITY AND ANTIDEMOCRA TIC TRENDS
range is all I want. " . . . Simih1rly, Floyd states that the $59 a week he received on his last job (which he held for a month) was "too slow" because "I started from scratch. " "Had to acquire everything: clothes, quarters, the fundamentals. " Detail- ing on admission to the prison some of the robberies and orgies of his gang, Floyd explains that "We had to have money to operate on: We spent $40 or so for our dinner parties. " . . . Adrian admits that from infancy he "usually got my way. " "In fact, all I ever had to do was cry about anything. " At the several boarding schools where his father placed him after his mother's death (when he was 5), "I was incorrigible, left school when I pleased. I overdrew my charge account . . . " His self-centered definition of reality is made explicit: "When things don't person- ally concern me, they just don't exist for me. "
Implicit in these men's weak conscience, their infantile-demanding im- pulses, and their egocentric view of the world, is a trait which governs their entire behavior. This is their extreme (personal) opportunism. The disregard of principle in their personal behavior corresponds with the ideological opportunism of their racism and reactionism. The personal opportunism is usually expressed in the service of infantile attitudes of omnipotence, and of trying to deny personal weakness.
Buck's pathological lying has been mentioned. As for his other offenses, he has served time for obtaining money on false pretenses, and for failure to provide for his children. He was arrested on one occasion for "molesting" his own children (girl then age 2-3, boy age 4-5), but it is reported the charges were dropped be- cause the children were too small to testify. . . . Floyd's delinquencies are less dramatic, but equally capricious. They include two jail sentences for disturbing the peace; an Army record of alternating between the guardhouse and repeated A. W. O. L. 's until he was discharged; and a series of armed gang robberies under- taken as an easy way of making a lot of money "to operate on. " Relevant here is Floyd's stated desire to marry a "wealthy woman," who should have "fair physical attractions" but whose personality he will "take as it comes. " . . . Adrian's delin- quencies include his self-styled "incorrigibility" at boarding schools (truancy, re- peatedly overdrawing his charge accounts, etc. ); numerous jail sentences for drunkenness and homosexual prostitution; and robbery. "I had probation, it seems to me, most of my life. " He supported himself mainly by prostitution, and by his own statement "never had any (sexual) relations with anyone that didn't have money connected with it. " He admits that some men attract him more than others, but "I never let preferences stand in the way. . . . The only thing I was ever in- terested in was the rent. "
The essentially frantic nature of these men's approach to life suggests a desperate inner emptiness and lack of moorings. This hollowness may pro- vide part of the basis for their wish to submit to "strong" political "leader- ship. " Further, any religious leanings of these men might be expected to express cravings for authoritarian submission. This would be expected to differ from the religious authoritarian submission of other high scorers in two interrelated aspects. As in other conflicts in the fascists, the craving for religious submission might very well be explicit rather than implicit; and since dominance-submission conflicts are involved, this craving might be
? THE AUTHORIT ARIAN PERSONALITY
expressed with open ideological opportunism. It happens that Buck "never did think much about religion," but Adrian and Floyd reveal these very characteristics clearly. Floyd's opportunism takes the form of highly egocen- tric (as well as confused) "criteria" for belief, with no apparent interest in considerations of evidence or truth-falsity.
Floyd states that before he was shot (almost fatally) in his last gang robbery, he was "reaching for something" and "wanted" to believe in God. (He had never had any religious training; his father was a free-thinker, and he had never known his mother. ) But "I just couldn't feature that a human being, an intelligence, could be obliterated so easily. " Having been thus let down "personally" by the God he was "reaching for" (in that his delinquency led to disaster), he could no longer "believe. " . . . Adrian's religious training consisted of very early exposure to the Christian Science of a governess and living in Episcopal boarding schools from the ages of 8 to I 5. At I 5 he tried to submit to what for him seemed clearly to represent religious totalitarianism and voluntary self-emasculation: "I very seriously went into the Church of Rome at I5" to become a priest-not because of any specific religious convictions, but "because I believed and still do . . . that the Catholic Church is the only true church," since "she was the church founded by Christ. " "She was the first" and therefore "the other churches had no real excuse to break away. " His fascistic inclinations are stated openly: "I respect her as a political organization. I think it would be better to have everything under one head". It would save dissension. " Adrian's father forcibly interfered, however, to prevent his entry into the priesthood. Adrian drifted until he became "very interested in Christian Science" with quite practical motives: "I'm not positive I believe in Christian Sci- ence, but there's much in it that seems to help me. . . . I don't try to apply Christian
Science to physical things . . . but my worries, mental things-there's where it helps me most. " In anticipation of parole, he wrote to two Christian Science practitioners for aid in lining up a job (a prerequisite to being granted parole). When both of them criticized him for "trying to manifest a job" instead of relying mystically upon "the Divine Employer," Adrian was "never so disgusted in my life. " But Adrian admittedly has "got to have a God" to submit to, "So what do you think I took up! " The answer is "Hinduism," which "teaches you discipline" such as "cut- ting down on cigarettes. " Adrian summarizes his approach to his latest ideological "manipulandum" in this way: "It's practical. That's the main thing. "
4. LOW SCORERS
The moral-religious ideology of the low-scoring interviewees is quite dif- ferent from that of the prejudiced men. They are relatively free of moralism, and sometimes verbalize explicitly antimoralistic sentiments.
Thus, for Art religion has "nothing to do with keeping laws, except the Golden Rule. " Highly objectionable to Don is the idea of religion as "abiding by a certain set of rules. " Probing reveals no sign of rejection in any of the 4 low scorers toward atheists or non-Christians.
They speak ofreligion primarily in terms of ethical values. Religion is "whatever spiritual qualities you have within yourself" (Art). This orienta- tion is embedded in more individualized relationships to themselves and other people, as compared with the high scorers' impersonalization of such rela-
? Bss
tionships. Different features of this ethical approach are stressed by each. Jim expresses most clearly the aspect of nurturant-affiliative attitudes toward people:
"I look on God as mostly the goodness in all peoples. . . . If everyone . . . carried out the principles that religion expounds, it would be a better world. (How do you mean? ) To treat others as a person would wish to be treated himself, and to help those less fortunate than oneself, and to be a part of the community or society that one is in, to take an active part in it, and being kind and generous, and to more or less have a high regard for your fellow human being. " Art, too, conceives of God, not as a person, but "more a power of good. . . . God is a force. "
Another aspect is the emphasis on full expression of the individual person- ality and "happiness on earth. "
Don declares that his concept of a hereafter was nicely expressed by a girl-friend who said that "if she believed in a hereafter it would mean developing one's unde- veloped talents. " For Jim "the only happiness that we really know of is here on earth; so why not try to enjoy the people and things on this earth, rather than a life somewhere else. "
Further, a rich inner life is a religious value.
Religion "gives you some access to your thoughts" (Dick). Prayer is conceived not as a mode of securing gratification of personal desires or of paying obeisance to a parent-substitute God. Rather, prayer is something which in and of itself "can help a person" (Dick); which "helps form what you're to be" (Don); "a personal thing that happens when the lights are out before you retire. Not 'I want something or other,' but consciously putting into words so as to place whatever you are look- ing for into a positive plane" (Art).
Opposed to the prejudiced men's authoritarian submission in moral-religi- ous matters is the insistence upon individuality in the credos of the low scorers.
"Religion is a personal thing. . . . Religion is as individual to me as my finger- prints, or as yours are to you" (Art). Dick explains his change from a Baptist to a Christian Scientist partly in terms of his objection to the teachings of a Navy chaplain, and especially the chaplain's efforts to "force us to come to church . . . I believe it's a man's personal affair. " It happened that Dick "got hold of a Christian Science textbook, liked the ideas .
