They are guided by the wish to "make good" the
injustice
that has been done to minorities.
Adorno-T-Authoritarian-Personality-Harper-Bros-1950
TYPES AND SYNDROMES
Her anti-Semitism shows strong traces of projectivity, of the fake mysticism of the "blood," and of sex envy. The following statement reveals her atti- tudinal pattern:
"The Jews feel superior to Gentiles. They wouldn't pollute their blood by mixing it with Gentiles. They would bleed us of our money and use our women for mistresses, but they wouldn't marry among us, and they want their wives spotless. The Y's entertained Jews quite often. I don't know if it was their money or what. That's why I didn't vote for Y the second time. I'd seen too many fat Jew women and hooked-nose men at their house. Of course, I've heard Pres. Roosevelt's mother had some Jewish blood, too. " Left the B's bec~use they were Jews. They had a home like a palace and wanted her to stay. They said, "We knew it was too good to be true" . . . when she was leaving.
Striking is the similarity between the subject's way of thinking and a certain kind of crackpot religious movement, based on readiness to hear "inner voices" which give both moral uplifting and sinister advice:
The Catholics have been wonderful to her, and she admires them but wouldn't join their church. There was something inside her that said "No. " (She gestures her rejection. ) She has an individualistic religion. Once she was out walking in the early morning-the birds were singing-she raised her hands and her face to the sky, and they were wet. . (She considered it a supernatural phenomenon. )
6. THE "MANIPULA TIVE" TYPE
This syndrome, potentially the most danger3'us one, is defined by stereo- typy as an extreme: rigid notions become ends rather than means, and the whole world is divided into empty, schematic, administrative fields. There is an almost complete lack of object cathexis and of emotional ties. If the "Crank" syndrome had something paranoid about it, the "Manipulative" one has something schizophrenic. However, the break between internal and ex- ternal world, in this case, does not result in anything like ordinary "intro- version," but rather the contrary: a kind of compulsive overrealism which treats everything and everyone as an object to be handled, manipulated, seized by the subject's own theoretical and practical patterns. The technical aspects of life, and things qua "tools" are fraught with libido. The emphasis is on "doing things," with far-reaching indifference towards the content of what is going to be done. The pattern is found in numerous business people and also, in increasing numbers, among members of the rising managerial and technological class who maintain, in the process of production, a func- tion between the old type of ownership and the workers' aristocracy. Many fascist-political anti-Semites in Germany showed this syndrome: Rimmler may be symbolic of them. Their sober intelligence, together with their almost complete absence of any affections makes them perhaps the most merciless of all. Their organizational way of looking at things predisposes them to
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totalitarian solutions. Their goal is the construction of gas chambers rather than the pogrom. They do not even have to hate the Jews; they "cope" with them by administrative measures without any personal contacts with the victims. Anti-Semitism is reified, an export article: it must "function. " Their cynicism is almost complete: "The Jewish question will be solved strictly legally" is the way they talk about the cold pogrom. The Jews are provoca-, tive to them in so far as supposed Jewish individualism is a challenge to ? their stereotypy, and because they feel in the Jews a neurotic overemphasis on the very same kind of human relationships which they are lacking them- selves. The ingroup-outgroup relationship becomes the principle according to which the whole world is abstractly organized. Naturally, this syndrome can be found in this country only in a rudimentary state.
As to the psychological etiology of this type, our material sets us certain limitations. However, it should be borne in mind that compulsiveness is the psychological equivalent of what we call, in terms of social theory, reification. The compulsive features of the boy chosen as an example for the "Manipula- tive" type, together with his sadism, can hardly be overlooked-he comes close to the classical Freudian conception of the "anal" character and is in this regard reminiscent of the "Authoritarian" syndrome. But he is differentiated from the latter by the simultaneity of extreme narcissism and a certain empti- ness and shallowness. This, however, involves a contradiction only if looked at superficially, since whatever we call a person's emotional and intellectual richness is due to the intensify of his object cathexes. Notable in our case is an interest in sex almost amounting to preoccupation, going with backward- ness as far as actual experience is concerned. One pictures a very inhibited boy, worried about masturbation, collecting insects while the other boys played baseball. There must have been early and deep emotional traumata, probably on a pregenital level. M zo8
is going to be an insect toxicologist and work for a large organization like Stand- ard Oil or a university, presumably not in private business. He first started in chemis- try in college but about the third term began to wonder if that was what he really wanted. He was interested in entomology in high school, and while hashing in a sorority he met a fellow worker in entomology, and in talking about the possibility of combining entomology and chemistry, this man said he thought it would be a very good field to investigate a little further. He found out insect toxicology had everything that combined his interests, wasn't overcrowded, and that he could make a good living there, and that there wasn't likely to be a surplus as there would be in chemistry or engineering.
Taken in isolation, the professional choice of this subject may appear acci- dental, but when viewed in the context of the whole interview, it assumes a certain significance. It has been pointed out by L. Lowenthal (75) that fascist orators often compare their "enemies" to "vermin. " The interest of this boy
? TYPES AND SYNDROMES
in entomology may be due to his regarding the insects, which are both "repulsive" and weak, as ideal objects for his manipulation. 4
The manipulative aspect of his professional choice is stressed by himself:
Asked what he expects to get from the job other than the economic side, he said that he hopes to have a hand in organizing the whole field, that is, in organizing the knowledge. There is no textbook, the information is scattered, and he hopes to make a contribution in organizing the material.
His emphasis on "doing things" goes so far that he even appreciates people whom he otherwise hates, though in a terminology with destructive over- tones. Here belongs his statement about Roosevelt, which was quoted in part in Chapter XVII:
Asked about the good points of Roosevelt, he said, "Well, the first term he was in office he whipped the U. S. into shape. Some people argue he only carried out Hoover's ideas, but actually he did a good job which was badly needed . . . he usurped power that was necessary to do something-he took a lot more power than a lot. " . . . Asked whether his policies were good or bad, subject replied, "Well, at any rate, he was doing something. "
His political concepts are defined by the friend-foe relationship, in exactly the same way as the Nazi theoretician Karl Schmitt defined the nature of politics. His lust for organization, concomitant with an obsession with the domination of nature, seems boundless:
"There will always be wars. (Is there any way of preventing wars? ) No, it's not common goals but common enemies that make friends. Perhaps if they could dis- cover other planets and some way of getting there, spread out that way, we could prevent wars for a time, but eventually there'd be wars again. "
The truly totalitarian and destructive implications of his dichotomous way of thinking become manifest in his statement about the Negroes:
(What can we do about the Negroes? ) "Nothing can be done. There are two factions. I'm not in favor of interbreeding because this would produce an inferior race. The Negroes haven't reached the point of development of Caucasians, arti- ficially living and absorbing from the races. " He would approve of segregation, but that's not possible. Not unless you are willing to use Hitler's methods. There are only two ways of handling this problem-Hitler's methods or race mixture. Race mixture is the only answer and is already taking place, according to what he has read, but he's against it. It wouldn't do the race any good.
4 This, of course, covers only a superficial aspect. It is well known from psychoanalysis that insects and vermin serve frequently as symbols for siblings. The fantasies involved here may be traces of the little boy's wish to beat his little brother until he "keeps quiet. " Manipulativeness may be one form in which death wishes for the siblings are allowed to come to the fore. "Organizers" are frequently persons who want to exercise domineering control over those who are actually their equals-substitutes for the siblings over whom they wish to rule, like the father, as the next best thing, if they cannot kill them. Our insect toxicologist mentions frequent childhood quarrels with his sister.
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This logic allows only for one conclusion: that the Negroes should be killed. At the same time, his way of looking at the prospective objects of manipula- tion is completely unemotional and detached: although his anti-Semitism is marked he doesn't even claim that you can
"tell the Jews by their appearance, they're just like other people, all kinds. ''
His administrative and pathologically detached outlook is again evidenced by his statement on intermarriage:
He said that if he were an American businessman in Oermany or England he'd probably marry first an American woman if he could, then he might marry a German or an English woman.
However, "swarthy" people like Greeks or Jews have no chance in this experimental setup. It is true, he has nothing against his Spanish brother-in- law, but expresses his approval by the phrase that "you couldn't tell him from a white person. "
He takes a positive attitude towards the church for manipulative purposes:
"Well, people want church; there is a purpose, it sets standards for some people, but for other people, it is not necessary. A general sense of social duty would do the same thing. "
His own metaphysical views are naturalistic, with a strong nihilistic coloring:
Asked about his own beliefs he said he's a mechanistic-there is no supernatural entity, not concerned with us as humans; it goes back to a law of physics. Humans and life are just an accident-but an inevitable accident. And then he tried to explain that-that there was some matter accrued when the earth was started and it was almost by accident that life started and it just kept on.
As to his emotional structure:
His mother is "just Mom"; he seems to have some respect for his father and father's opinions, but there was no real attachment any place. He said as a child he had a lot of friends, but on further questioning, he couldn't mention any closer friends. He did a lot of reading as a child. Didn't have many fights-couldn't re- member them-didn't have any more than any other boys. He has no real close friends now. His closest friends were when he was in the wth or 1 nh grade, and he still keeps track of some of them, he said. (How important are friends? ) "Well, they're especially important in younger years, and in your older years you don't enjoy life as much without them. I don't expect my friends to help me get along. " They're not needed so much at present age, but he supposed that at the interviewer's age it would be very important to have friends.
Finally it should be mentioned that the only moral quality that plays a con- siderable role in the thinking of this subject is loyalty, perhaps as a compen- sation for his own lack of affection. By loyalty he probably means complete and unconditional identification of a person with the group to which he hap-
? TYPES AND SYNDROMES
pens to belong. He is expected to surrender completely to his "unit" and to give up all individual particularities for the sake of the "whole. " Mzo8 objects to Jewish refugees not having been "loyal to Germany. "
C. SYNDROMES FOUND AMONG LOW SCORERS
T h t following schematic observations may help towards orientation among the "low" syndromes. The Rigid low scorers are characterized by strong superego tendencies and compulsive features. Paternal authority and its social substitutes, however, are frequently replaced by the image of some col- lectivity, possibly moulded after the archaic image of what Freud calls the brother horde. Their main taboo is directed against violations of actual or supposed brotherly love. The Protesting low scorer has much in common with the "Authoritarian" high scorer, the main difference being that the fur- ther-going sublimation of the father idea, concomitant with an undercurrent of hostility against the father, leads to the conscientious rejection of heteron- omous authority instead of its acceptance. The decisive feature is opposition to whatever appears to be tyranny. The syndrome of the Impulsive low scorer denotes people in whom strong id impulses were never integrated with ego and superego. They are threatened by overpowering libidinous energy and in a way as close to psychosis as the "Crank" and the "Manipulative" high scorer. As to the Easy-Going low scorer, the id seems to be little repressed, but rather to be sublimated into compassion, and the superego well developed, whereas the extraverted functions of the otherwise quite articulate ego fre- quently do not keep pace. These subjects sometimes come close to neurotic indecision. One of their main features is the fear of "hurting" anyone or anything by action. The construct of the Genuine Liberal may be conceived in terms of that balance between superego, ego, and id which Freud deemed ideal.
In our sample the "Protesting" and the "Easy-Going" low scorers ap- parently occur most frequently. Emphasizing, however, once again that the low scorers are as a whole less "typed" than the high scorers, we shall refrain from any undue generalization.
1. THE "RIGID" LOW SCORER
We may start with the "low" syndrome that has most in common with
the over-all "high" pattern, and proceed in the direction of sounder and more durable "lowness. " The syndrome which commands first attention is the one which shows the most markedly stereotypical features-that is to say, con- figurations in which the absence of prejudice, instead of being based on concrete experience and integrated within the personality, is derived from some general, external, ideological pattern. Here we find those subjects whose lack of prejudice, however consistent in terms of surface ideology, has to be
? THE AUTHORITARIAN PERSONALITY
regarded as accidental in terms of personality, but we also find people whose rigidity is hardly less related to personality than is the case with certain syn- dromes of high scorers. The latter kind of low scorers are definitely disposed towards totalitarianism in their thinking; what is accidental up to a certain degree is the particular brand of ideological world formula that they chance to come into contact with. We encountered a few subjects who had been identified ideologically with some progressive movement, such as the struggle for minority rights, for a long time, but with whom such ideas contained features of compulsiveness, even of paranoid obsession, and who, with respect to many of our variables, especially rigidity and "total" thinking, could hardly be distinguished from some of our high extremes. All the repre- sentatives of this syndrome can in one way or another be regarded as coun- terparts of the "Surface Resentment" type of high scorer. The accidentalness in their total outlook makes them liable to change fronts in critical situations, as was the case with certain kinds of radicals under the Nazi regime. They may often be recognized by a certain disinterestedness with respect to crucial minority questions per se, being, rather, against prejudice as a plank in the fascist platform; but. sometimes they also see only minority problems. They are likely to use cliches and phraseology hardly less frequently than do their political opponents. Some of them tend to belittle the importance of racial discrimination by labeling it simply as a byproduct of the big issues of class struggle-an attitude which may be indicative of repressed prejudice on their own part. Representatives of this syndrome can often be found, for example, among young, "progressive" people, particularly students, whose personal development has failed to keep pace with their ideological indoctrination. One of the best means for identifying the syndrome is to note the subject's readiness to deduce his stand towards minority problems from some general formula, rather than to make spontaneous statements. He also may often come forward with value judgments which cannot possibly be based on any real knowledge of the matter in question.
F z39 is a religious educator.
For the past ten years she has considered herself very progressive. Lately she has little time to read, but her husband reads and studies constantly and keeps her up to date by discussion. "My favorite world statesman is Litvinov. I think the most dramatic speech of modern times is the one he made at the Geneva conference when he pleaded for collective security. It has made us very happy to see the fog of ignorance and distrust surrounding the Soviet Union clear away during this war. Things are not settled yet though. There are many fascists in our own country who would fight Russia if they could. "
The hollowness of her enthusiasm about Litvinov has already been noted in our discussion of stereotyped thinking in politics (Chapter XVII). The same seems to be true of her assertion that she is an internationalist, followed up by
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773
her rhetorical question, "Would I be a true Christian if I weren't? " This is typical of the "deductive" way of thinking which seems to characterize the rigid low scorer. The present subject seems to proceed in the same way as she approaches minority questions.
Subject believes that all people are one, and again she feels that is the only point of view possible for a true Christian.
The somewhat sweeping expression "that all people are one" should be noted: a person free of stereotypy would rather tend to acknowledge differ- ences and to take a positive stand towards differentiation. What is meant is probably "equal in the sight of God" and she deduces her tolerance from this general assumption.
As mentioned in the chapter on politics, the superficiality of her progres- sivism is indicated by her highly aggressive attitude towards alcoholism, called by herself "one of her pet subjects," which plays almost the same role as do certain paranoid ideas in the "Cranks" among the high scorers. It may be recalled in this connection, that Alfred McClung Lee has demonstrated the close connection between prohibitionism and prejudiced ways of think- ing. As a matter of fact, there is evidence enough that this "Rigid" low scorer has more than a sprinkling of the "high" mentality. There is the emphasis on "status," with reference to her daughter: -
"I feel badly about her school too-(names the school). The influx of people with lower educational and cultural standards than ours has had effect on the schools of course. "
There are destructive fantasies, thinly veiled by "sensible" moral reflections:
"The same with smoking. I am not really worried about it though. No one of either side of our family ever smoked or drank, with one exception. My husband's sister smoked. She is dead now. "
There is a rationalization of punitiveness:
"If I could bring about Prohibition tomorrow I would do it. I believe in pre- venting everything that doesn't make man better-that makes him worse. Some people say if you forbid something it makes people do it on the sly. Well, I say, how about murder, and robbery, and dope? We have prohibited them and some people still commit crimes, but we do not think of taking off the ban on them. "
And there is, finally, official optimism, a characteristic reaction-formation against underlying destructiveness:
"If one didn't always have hope and believe everything was moving upwards, one's Christianity wouldn't mean anything, would it? "
Under changing conditions she might be willing to join a subversive move- ment as long as it pretended to be "Christian" and to "move upwards. "
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2. THE "PROTESTING" LOW SCORER5
This syndrome is in many respects the counterpart of the "Authoritarian" high scorer. Its determinants are psychological rather than rational. It is based on a specific resolution of the Oedipus complex which has deeply affected the individuals in question. While they are set against paternal authority, they have at the same time internalized the father image to a high degree. One may say that in them the superego is so strong that it turns against its own "model," the father, and all external authorities. They are thoroughly guided by conscience which seems to be, in many cases exhibiting this pattern, a secularization of religious authority. This conscience, however, is quite au- tonomous and independent of outside codes. They "protest" out of purely moral reasons against social repression or at least against some of its extreme manifestations, such as racial prejudice. 6 Most of the "neurotic" low scorers who play such a large role in our sample show the "Protest" syndrome. They are often shy, "retiring," uncertain about themselves, and even given to tor- menting themselves with all kinds of doubts and scruples. They sometimes
show certain compulsive features, and their reaction against prejudice has also an aspect of having been forced upon them by rigid superego demands. They are frequently guilt-ridden and regard the Jews a priori as "victims,"
as being distinctly different from themselves. An element of stereotypy may
be inherent in their sympathies and identifications.
They are guided by the wish to "make good" the injustice that has been done to minorities. At the same time they may be easily attracted by the real or imaginary intellectual qualities of the Jews which they deem to be akin to their desire to be "aloof" from worldly affairs. While being nonauthoritarian in their way of thinking, they are often psychologically constricted and thus not able to act as ener- getically as their conscience demands. It is as if the internalization of con- science has succeeded so well that they are severely inhibited or even psy- chologically "paralyzed. " Their eternal guilt feelings tend to make them regard everyone as "guilty. " Though they detest discrimination, they may _ find it sometimes difficult to stand up against it. Socially, they seem usually
to belong to the middle class, but it is hard to define their group membership in more precise terms. However, our material seems to indicate that they are frequently to be found among people who underwent serious family troubles, such as a divorce of their parents. F127
is extremely pretty in the conventional "campus girl" style. She is very slight, blond, fair-skinned, and blue-eyed. She wears a becoming "sloppy Joe" sweater, daintily fixed blouse, and brief skirt, with bobby socks. She wears a sorority pin. She
5 This term was suggested by J. F. Brown.
6 lt was pointed out in Chapter XVIII that religion, when it has been internalized, is an effective antidote against prejudice and the whole fascist potential, notwithstanding its own authoritarian aspects.
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775
is very friendly and interested, seems to enjoy the discussion, but is quite vague in her answers about family life until the interview is quite well along. Then she suddenly decides to reveal the most important single fact in her life-her parents' divorce which she usually hides-and from that point on speaks with apparent freedom about her own feelings.
She shows the characteristic neurotic concern with herself, indicative of a feeling of impotence: she has a somewhat magical belief in psychology, ap- parently expecting that the psychologist knows more about her than she does herself:
What she would like above all is to be a psychiatrist. (Why? ) "Because psychi- atrists know more about people. Everyone tells me their troubles. I don't think there is anything more satisfying than to be able to help people with their problems. But I don't have the brains or the patience to be a psychiatrist. That is just an idea. "
Her attitude towards the father is hostile:
Father is a lawyer. A~ present he is enlisted in the army and is somewhere in the Pacific, in charge of a Negro battalion. (What does he think about that? ) "I don't know what he thinks about anything. "
Her social attitude is a combination of conformist "correctness," the em- phatic and self-confessed desire for "pleasure" (almost as if her conscience would order her to enjoy herself), and a tendency towards retiring in- ternalization. Her indifference to "status," though perhaps not quite au- thentic, is noteworthy.
(Interests? ) "Oh fun-and serious things too. I like to read and discuss things. I like bright people-can't stand clinging vines. Like to dance, dress up, go places. Am not much good at sports, but I play at them-tennis, swimming. I belong to a sorority and we do lots of war work as well as entertaining service men. (Subject names sorority. ) (That is supposed to be a good house isn't it? ) They say so. I didn't think there was anything very special about it. "
Her social progressiveness is characterized by both an element of fear and a conscientious sense of justice:
(What do you think about poverty? ) "I hate to think of it. And I don't think it is necessary. (Who is to blame? ) Oh, I don't mean the poor people are. I don't know, but you would think that by now we could work out a way so that everyone would have enough. "
Her anxiety makes her more aware of the fascist potential than most other low scorers are:
"It would be terrible to have Nazis here. Of course there are some. And they would like to have the same thing happen. . . . Lots of Jewish kids have a hard time-in the service, and in going to medical school. It isn't fair. (Why the dis- crimination? ) I don't know unless it is the Nazi influence. No, it went back before that. I guess there always are some people who have ideas like the Nazis. "
Her indignation is primarily directed against "unfairness. " The notion that
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"there are always people with ideas like the Nazis" is remarkable: a highly developed sense of responsibility seems to give her an understanding in social? matters that goes far beyond her purely intellectual insight. Psychologically, the complete absence of prejudice in her case seems best understood as a superego function, since the girl relates a rather unpleasant experience which otherwise might well have made her prejudiced: she was kidnapped, as a child of four, by a Negro but
"He didn't hurt me. I don't think I was even scared. "
As to the genetic background of her attitude, the following clinical data are pertinent:
"I am more like my father I am afraid and that isn't good. He is a very impatient man, overbearing, and everything for himself. He and I didn't get along. He favored my sister because she played up to him. But both of us suffered with him. If I even called my sister a name as kids will do when they fight, I got spanked, and hard. That used to worry my mother. For that reason she hardly ever punished us, because he did it all the time, and mostly for nothing. I was spanked constantly. I remember that better than anything. (Do you think your mother and father loved each other? ) No, perhaps they did at first, but my mother couldn't stand the way he treated us. She divorced him. " (She flushes and her eyes fill with tears as she says this. When interviewer commented that she had not realized the parents were divorced she says-"1 wasn't going to say anything. I hardly ever do. ")
As to neurotic traits: there are indications of a strong mother-fixation:
"I don't want mother to ever get married again. (Why? ) I don't know. She doesn't need to. She can have friends. She is very attractive and has lots of friends but I couldn't stand to have her marry again. (Do you think she might anyway? ) No. She won't if I don't want her to. "
And there are symptoms of sexual inhibition, based on her experience of the breakdown of her parents' marriage.
(Boys? ) "Oh, I don't get serious and I don't want them to. I neck a little of course, but nothing to give them any idea I am cheap. I don't like cheap fellows either. "
Her statement that she does not want to commit herself because she is afraid of war marriages is probably a rationalization.
3. THE "IMPULSIVE" LOW SCORER
The case of an "impulse-ridden" low scorer has been described by Frenkel- Brunswik and Sanford (38). They write:
The case of an "impulse ridden" low scorer has been described by Frenkel- Brunswik and Sanford (44). They write:
as most typical of our low extremes. This girl was clearly impulse ridden. Her ego was lined up with her id, so that all kinds of excesses were made to seem permissible to her. In stating why she liked Jews she gave much the same reasons that the high extremes had given for hating them.
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777
There is reason to assume that this case represents a syndrome of its own, being in some respects the counterpart of the psychopathic high scorer. This syndrome stands out in all-adjusted people who have an extremely strong id, but are relatively free of destructive impulses: people who, on account of their own libidinous situation, sympathize with everything they feel to be repressed. Moreover, they are those who respond so strongly to all kinds of stimuli that the ingroup-outgroup relation has no meaning to them-rather, they are attracted by everything that is "different" and promises some new kind of gratification. If they have destructive elements, these seem to be di- rected against themselves instead of against others. The range of this syn- drome seems to reach from libertines and "addicts" of all kinds, over certain asocial characters such as prostitutes and nonviolent criminals, to certain psychotics. It may also be noted that in Germany very few Nazis were found among actors, circus folk, and vagrants-people whom the Nazis put into concentration camps. It is difficult to say what are the deeper psychological sources of this syndrome. It seems, however, that there is weakness both in the superego and in the ego, and that this makes these individuals somewhat unstable in political matters as well as in other areas. They certainly do not think in stereotypes, but it is doubtful to what extent they succeed in con- ceptualization at all.
Our illustration, F205, is selected from the Psychiatric Clinic material:
She is a pleasantly mannered, attractive young college girl who is obviously seriously maladjusted and who suffers from great mood swings, tension, who can- not concentrate on her school work and has no goals in life. . . . Sometimes she is extremely upset, comes crying and "mixed up," complains that she is not being helped fast enough. Therapist feels that she cannot stand any deeper probing, that therapy will have to be mostly supportive, because of her weak ego, possibility of precipitating a psychosis. Schizoid tendencies.
She is set against prejudice with a strong accent on "interbreeding," prob- ably an expression of her own impulse for promiscuity: there should be no "boundaries":
(Prejudices? ) "If there were interbreeding between races it might help in the combining of cultures-it may internationalize culture. I think there should be one system of education everywhere. It may not be practical-but perhaps selective breeding would be possible-an accumulation of good traits might come out. And the imbeciles could be sterilized. " (Quotes some study on heredity subject has learned about. ) "It seems improvements aren't made fast enough. The whole society is ill and unhappy. "
The last sentence indicates that her own discontent leads her, by the way of empathy, towards a rather radical and consistent critique of society. The keenness of her insight as well as her being attracted by what is "different" comes out even more clearly in her statement on minority problems:
''There is a terrific amount of minority oppression-prejudice. There is a fear of
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minorities, a lack of knowledge. I would like to assimilate all groups-internation- ally. Would want the education of the world unified. The minorities themselves also keep themselves apart. It's a vicious circle. Society makes them outcasts and they react this way. " (Differences? ) (Interviewer tried hard to have subject describe differences between groups, but subject insisted): "All differences that exist are due to conditions people grow up in and also to the emotional responses . (to discrimination). (Jews? ) I don't see how they are different as a group. I have Jewish friends. . . . Maybe they are more sensitive because of prejudice against them. But that's good. "
According to the clinical data the girl is a genuine Lesbian, who was severely reprimanded because of her homosexuality, and became afterwards "rather promiscuous to determine whether she did react sexually to men. " "All emotionally upset in one way or the other," she said. Her later history indicates that the Lesbian component is stronger than anything else.
It may be added that the Los Angeles sample contains three call-house girls, all of them completely free of prejudice and also low on the F scale. Since their profession tends to make them resentful about sex altogether, and since they profess symptoms of frigidity, they do not seem to belong to the "Impulsive" syndrome. However, only much closer analysis could ascer- tain whether the ultimate basis of their character formation is of the "im- pulsive" kind and has only been hidden by later reaction-formations, or whether their low score is due to a purely social factor, namely the in- numerable contacts they have with all kinds of people.
4. THE "EASY-GOING" LOW SCORER
This syndrome is the exact opposite of the "Manipulative" high scorer. Negatively, it is characterized by a marked tendency to "let things go," a profound unwillingness to do violence to any object (an unwillingness which often may approach, on the surface level, conformity), and by an extreme reluctance to make decisions, often underscored by the subjects themselves. This reluctance even affects their language: they may be recognized by the frequency of unfinished sentences, as if they would not like to commit them- selves, but rather leave it to the listener to decide on the merits of the case. ' Positively, they are inclined to "live and let live," while at the same time their own desires seem to be free of the acquisitive touch. Grudging and dis- content are absent. They show a certain psychological richness, the opposite of constrictedness: a capacity for enjoying things, imagination, a sense of humor which often assumes the form of self-irony. The latter, however, is as little destructive as their other attitudes: it is as if they were ready to con- fess all kinds of weaknesses not so much out of any neurotic compulsion as because of a strong underlying sense of inner security. They can give them- selves up without being afraid of losing themselves. They are rarely radical in their political outlook, but rather behave as if they were already living under nonrepressive conditions, in a truly human society, an attitude which
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779
may, sometimes, tend to weaken their power of resistance. There is no evi- dence of any truly schizoid tendencies. They are completely nonstereopathic -they do not even resist stereotypy, but simply fail to understand the urge
~ for subsumption.
The etiology of the "Easy-Going" syndrome is still somewhat obscure. The
subjects in whom it is pronounced seem not to be defined by the preponder- ance of any psychological agency, or by retrogression to any particular in- fantile phase though there is, superficially seen, something of the child about them. Rather, they should be understood dynamically. They are people whose character structure has not become "congealed": no set pattern of control by any of the agencies of Freud's typology has crystallized, but they are completely "open" to experience. This, however, does not imply ego weakness, but rather the absence of traumatic experiences and defects which otherwise lead to the "reification" of the ego. In this sense, they are "normal," but it is just this normality which gives them in our civilization the appear- ance of a certain immaturity. Not only did they not undergo severe child- hood conflicts, but their whole childhood seems to be determined by motherly or other female images. 7 Perhaps they may best be characterized as those who know no fear of women. This may account for the absence of aggressive- ness. At the same time, it is possibly indicative of an archaic trait: to them, the world has still a matriarchal outlook. Thus, they may often represent, sociologically, the genuine "folk" element as against rational civilization. Representatives of this syndrome are not infrequent among the lower middle- classes. Though no "action" is to be expected of them, one may count on them as on persons who, under no circumstances, ever will adjust themselves to political or psychological fascism. The aforementioned M711
is very amiable, mild, gende, casual, slow, and somewhat lethargic in both voice and manner. He is quite verbal, but very circumstantial. His statements are typically surrounded with qualifications to which he commonly devotes more attention than to the main proposition. He seems to suffer from pervasive indecision and doubt, to be pretty unsure of his ideas, and to have great difficulty in committing himself to positive statements on very many matters. In general, he tends to avoid committing himself to things, either intellectually or emotionally, and in general avoids getting involved in things.
He describes his choice of profession as accidental, but it is interesting that he was originally a landscape architect-which may imply a desire for the res- titution of nature rather than its domination-and later became an inter- viewer in government employment, a job that gives him the gratification of helping other people without his stressing, however, this aspect narcis- sistically. He is not indifferent to wealth and admits his wish for "security," but is, at the same time, totally unimpressed by the importance of money per
7 The subject chosen as an illustration of this type "was brought up in a household of women-mother and grandmother. "
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se. His religious attitude has been described in Chapter XVIII, and it fits psy- chologically, in every detail, into the make-up of the "Easy-Going" syn- drome. It may be added that he "does not believe in the Immaculate Con- ception" but doesn't think "it makes any difference. "
When asked about discipline in childhood, he answers "practically none," "very undisciplined. " His strong attachment to his mother is emphasized without any inhibition: the only period of his childhood when there were any "bones of contention" was when his mother "exhibited her possessive- ness. She didn't like the gals I went with. " What he himself likes about women is described as follows:
"A wfully hard to say when you're pretty sold on a gal. . . . Seems to have all the things I like-fun to be with, brains, pretty.
Her anti-Semitism shows strong traces of projectivity, of the fake mysticism of the "blood," and of sex envy. The following statement reveals her atti- tudinal pattern:
"The Jews feel superior to Gentiles. They wouldn't pollute their blood by mixing it with Gentiles. They would bleed us of our money and use our women for mistresses, but they wouldn't marry among us, and they want their wives spotless. The Y's entertained Jews quite often. I don't know if it was their money or what. That's why I didn't vote for Y the second time. I'd seen too many fat Jew women and hooked-nose men at their house. Of course, I've heard Pres. Roosevelt's mother had some Jewish blood, too. " Left the B's bec~use they were Jews. They had a home like a palace and wanted her to stay. They said, "We knew it was too good to be true" . . . when she was leaving.
Striking is the similarity between the subject's way of thinking and a certain kind of crackpot religious movement, based on readiness to hear "inner voices" which give both moral uplifting and sinister advice:
The Catholics have been wonderful to her, and she admires them but wouldn't join their church. There was something inside her that said "No. " (She gestures her rejection. ) She has an individualistic religion. Once she was out walking in the early morning-the birds were singing-she raised her hands and her face to the sky, and they were wet. . (She considered it a supernatural phenomenon. )
6. THE "MANIPULA TIVE" TYPE
This syndrome, potentially the most danger3'us one, is defined by stereo- typy as an extreme: rigid notions become ends rather than means, and the whole world is divided into empty, schematic, administrative fields. There is an almost complete lack of object cathexis and of emotional ties. If the "Crank" syndrome had something paranoid about it, the "Manipulative" one has something schizophrenic. However, the break between internal and ex- ternal world, in this case, does not result in anything like ordinary "intro- version," but rather the contrary: a kind of compulsive overrealism which treats everything and everyone as an object to be handled, manipulated, seized by the subject's own theoretical and practical patterns. The technical aspects of life, and things qua "tools" are fraught with libido. The emphasis is on "doing things," with far-reaching indifference towards the content of what is going to be done. The pattern is found in numerous business people and also, in increasing numbers, among members of the rising managerial and technological class who maintain, in the process of production, a func- tion between the old type of ownership and the workers' aristocracy. Many fascist-political anti-Semites in Germany showed this syndrome: Rimmler may be symbolic of them. Their sober intelligence, together with their almost complete absence of any affections makes them perhaps the most merciless of all. Their organizational way of looking at things predisposes them to
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totalitarian solutions. Their goal is the construction of gas chambers rather than the pogrom. They do not even have to hate the Jews; they "cope" with them by administrative measures without any personal contacts with the victims. Anti-Semitism is reified, an export article: it must "function. " Their cynicism is almost complete: "The Jewish question will be solved strictly legally" is the way they talk about the cold pogrom. The Jews are provoca-, tive to them in so far as supposed Jewish individualism is a challenge to ? their stereotypy, and because they feel in the Jews a neurotic overemphasis on the very same kind of human relationships which they are lacking them- selves. The ingroup-outgroup relationship becomes the principle according to which the whole world is abstractly organized. Naturally, this syndrome can be found in this country only in a rudimentary state.
As to the psychological etiology of this type, our material sets us certain limitations. However, it should be borne in mind that compulsiveness is the psychological equivalent of what we call, in terms of social theory, reification. The compulsive features of the boy chosen as an example for the "Manipula- tive" type, together with his sadism, can hardly be overlooked-he comes close to the classical Freudian conception of the "anal" character and is in this regard reminiscent of the "Authoritarian" syndrome. But he is differentiated from the latter by the simultaneity of extreme narcissism and a certain empti- ness and shallowness. This, however, involves a contradiction only if looked at superficially, since whatever we call a person's emotional and intellectual richness is due to the intensify of his object cathexes. Notable in our case is an interest in sex almost amounting to preoccupation, going with backward- ness as far as actual experience is concerned. One pictures a very inhibited boy, worried about masturbation, collecting insects while the other boys played baseball. There must have been early and deep emotional traumata, probably on a pregenital level. M zo8
is going to be an insect toxicologist and work for a large organization like Stand- ard Oil or a university, presumably not in private business. He first started in chemis- try in college but about the third term began to wonder if that was what he really wanted. He was interested in entomology in high school, and while hashing in a sorority he met a fellow worker in entomology, and in talking about the possibility of combining entomology and chemistry, this man said he thought it would be a very good field to investigate a little further. He found out insect toxicology had everything that combined his interests, wasn't overcrowded, and that he could make a good living there, and that there wasn't likely to be a surplus as there would be in chemistry or engineering.
Taken in isolation, the professional choice of this subject may appear acci- dental, but when viewed in the context of the whole interview, it assumes a certain significance. It has been pointed out by L. Lowenthal (75) that fascist orators often compare their "enemies" to "vermin. " The interest of this boy
? TYPES AND SYNDROMES
in entomology may be due to his regarding the insects, which are both "repulsive" and weak, as ideal objects for his manipulation. 4
The manipulative aspect of his professional choice is stressed by himself:
Asked what he expects to get from the job other than the economic side, he said that he hopes to have a hand in organizing the whole field, that is, in organizing the knowledge. There is no textbook, the information is scattered, and he hopes to make a contribution in organizing the material.
His emphasis on "doing things" goes so far that he even appreciates people whom he otherwise hates, though in a terminology with destructive over- tones. Here belongs his statement about Roosevelt, which was quoted in part in Chapter XVII:
Asked about the good points of Roosevelt, he said, "Well, the first term he was in office he whipped the U. S. into shape. Some people argue he only carried out Hoover's ideas, but actually he did a good job which was badly needed . . . he usurped power that was necessary to do something-he took a lot more power than a lot. " . . . Asked whether his policies were good or bad, subject replied, "Well, at any rate, he was doing something. "
His political concepts are defined by the friend-foe relationship, in exactly the same way as the Nazi theoretician Karl Schmitt defined the nature of politics. His lust for organization, concomitant with an obsession with the domination of nature, seems boundless:
"There will always be wars. (Is there any way of preventing wars? ) No, it's not common goals but common enemies that make friends. Perhaps if they could dis- cover other planets and some way of getting there, spread out that way, we could prevent wars for a time, but eventually there'd be wars again. "
The truly totalitarian and destructive implications of his dichotomous way of thinking become manifest in his statement about the Negroes:
(What can we do about the Negroes? ) "Nothing can be done. There are two factions. I'm not in favor of interbreeding because this would produce an inferior race. The Negroes haven't reached the point of development of Caucasians, arti- ficially living and absorbing from the races. " He would approve of segregation, but that's not possible. Not unless you are willing to use Hitler's methods. There are only two ways of handling this problem-Hitler's methods or race mixture. Race mixture is the only answer and is already taking place, according to what he has read, but he's against it. It wouldn't do the race any good.
4 This, of course, covers only a superficial aspect. It is well known from psychoanalysis that insects and vermin serve frequently as symbols for siblings. The fantasies involved here may be traces of the little boy's wish to beat his little brother until he "keeps quiet. " Manipulativeness may be one form in which death wishes for the siblings are allowed to come to the fore. "Organizers" are frequently persons who want to exercise domineering control over those who are actually their equals-substitutes for the siblings over whom they wish to rule, like the father, as the next best thing, if they cannot kill them. Our insect toxicologist mentions frequent childhood quarrels with his sister.
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This logic allows only for one conclusion: that the Negroes should be killed. At the same time, his way of looking at the prospective objects of manipula- tion is completely unemotional and detached: although his anti-Semitism is marked he doesn't even claim that you can
"tell the Jews by their appearance, they're just like other people, all kinds. ''
His administrative and pathologically detached outlook is again evidenced by his statement on intermarriage:
He said that if he were an American businessman in Oermany or England he'd probably marry first an American woman if he could, then he might marry a German or an English woman.
However, "swarthy" people like Greeks or Jews have no chance in this experimental setup. It is true, he has nothing against his Spanish brother-in- law, but expresses his approval by the phrase that "you couldn't tell him from a white person. "
He takes a positive attitude towards the church for manipulative purposes:
"Well, people want church; there is a purpose, it sets standards for some people, but for other people, it is not necessary. A general sense of social duty would do the same thing. "
His own metaphysical views are naturalistic, with a strong nihilistic coloring:
Asked about his own beliefs he said he's a mechanistic-there is no supernatural entity, not concerned with us as humans; it goes back to a law of physics. Humans and life are just an accident-but an inevitable accident. And then he tried to explain that-that there was some matter accrued when the earth was started and it was almost by accident that life started and it just kept on.
As to his emotional structure:
His mother is "just Mom"; he seems to have some respect for his father and father's opinions, but there was no real attachment any place. He said as a child he had a lot of friends, but on further questioning, he couldn't mention any closer friends. He did a lot of reading as a child. Didn't have many fights-couldn't re- member them-didn't have any more than any other boys. He has no real close friends now. His closest friends were when he was in the wth or 1 nh grade, and he still keeps track of some of them, he said. (How important are friends? ) "Well, they're especially important in younger years, and in your older years you don't enjoy life as much without them. I don't expect my friends to help me get along. " They're not needed so much at present age, but he supposed that at the interviewer's age it would be very important to have friends.
Finally it should be mentioned that the only moral quality that plays a con- siderable role in the thinking of this subject is loyalty, perhaps as a compen- sation for his own lack of affection. By loyalty he probably means complete and unconditional identification of a person with the group to which he hap-
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pens to belong. He is expected to surrender completely to his "unit" and to give up all individual particularities for the sake of the "whole. " Mzo8 objects to Jewish refugees not having been "loyal to Germany. "
C. SYNDROMES FOUND AMONG LOW SCORERS
T h t following schematic observations may help towards orientation among the "low" syndromes. The Rigid low scorers are characterized by strong superego tendencies and compulsive features. Paternal authority and its social substitutes, however, are frequently replaced by the image of some col- lectivity, possibly moulded after the archaic image of what Freud calls the brother horde. Their main taboo is directed against violations of actual or supposed brotherly love. The Protesting low scorer has much in common with the "Authoritarian" high scorer, the main difference being that the fur- ther-going sublimation of the father idea, concomitant with an undercurrent of hostility against the father, leads to the conscientious rejection of heteron- omous authority instead of its acceptance. The decisive feature is opposition to whatever appears to be tyranny. The syndrome of the Impulsive low scorer denotes people in whom strong id impulses were never integrated with ego and superego. They are threatened by overpowering libidinous energy and in a way as close to psychosis as the "Crank" and the "Manipulative" high scorer. As to the Easy-Going low scorer, the id seems to be little repressed, but rather to be sublimated into compassion, and the superego well developed, whereas the extraverted functions of the otherwise quite articulate ego fre- quently do not keep pace. These subjects sometimes come close to neurotic indecision. One of their main features is the fear of "hurting" anyone or anything by action. The construct of the Genuine Liberal may be conceived in terms of that balance between superego, ego, and id which Freud deemed ideal.
In our sample the "Protesting" and the "Easy-Going" low scorers ap- parently occur most frequently. Emphasizing, however, once again that the low scorers are as a whole less "typed" than the high scorers, we shall refrain from any undue generalization.
1. THE "RIGID" LOW SCORER
We may start with the "low" syndrome that has most in common with
the over-all "high" pattern, and proceed in the direction of sounder and more durable "lowness. " The syndrome which commands first attention is the one which shows the most markedly stereotypical features-that is to say, con- figurations in which the absence of prejudice, instead of being based on concrete experience and integrated within the personality, is derived from some general, external, ideological pattern. Here we find those subjects whose lack of prejudice, however consistent in terms of surface ideology, has to be
? THE AUTHORITARIAN PERSONALITY
regarded as accidental in terms of personality, but we also find people whose rigidity is hardly less related to personality than is the case with certain syn- dromes of high scorers. The latter kind of low scorers are definitely disposed towards totalitarianism in their thinking; what is accidental up to a certain degree is the particular brand of ideological world formula that they chance to come into contact with. We encountered a few subjects who had been identified ideologically with some progressive movement, such as the struggle for minority rights, for a long time, but with whom such ideas contained features of compulsiveness, even of paranoid obsession, and who, with respect to many of our variables, especially rigidity and "total" thinking, could hardly be distinguished from some of our high extremes. All the repre- sentatives of this syndrome can in one way or another be regarded as coun- terparts of the "Surface Resentment" type of high scorer. The accidentalness in their total outlook makes them liable to change fronts in critical situations, as was the case with certain kinds of radicals under the Nazi regime. They may often be recognized by a certain disinterestedness with respect to crucial minority questions per se, being, rather, against prejudice as a plank in the fascist platform; but. sometimes they also see only minority problems. They are likely to use cliches and phraseology hardly less frequently than do their political opponents. Some of them tend to belittle the importance of racial discrimination by labeling it simply as a byproduct of the big issues of class struggle-an attitude which may be indicative of repressed prejudice on their own part. Representatives of this syndrome can often be found, for example, among young, "progressive" people, particularly students, whose personal development has failed to keep pace with their ideological indoctrination. One of the best means for identifying the syndrome is to note the subject's readiness to deduce his stand towards minority problems from some general formula, rather than to make spontaneous statements. He also may often come forward with value judgments which cannot possibly be based on any real knowledge of the matter in question.
F z39 is a religious educator.
For the past ten years she has considered herself very progressive. Lately she has little time to read, but her husband reads and studies constantly and keeps her up to date by discussion. "My favorite world statesman is Litvinov. I think the most dramatic speech of modern times is the one he made at the Geneva conference when he pleaded for collective security. It has made us very happy to see the fog of ignorance and distrust surrounding the Soviet Union clear away during this war. Things are not settled yet though. There are many fascists in our own country who would fight Russia if they could. "
The hollowness of her enthusiasm about Litvinov has already been noted in our discussion of stereotyped thinking in politics (Chapter XVII). The same seems to be true of her assertion that she is an internationalist, followed up by
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773
her rhetorical question, "Would I be a true Christian if I weren't? " This is typical of the "deductive" way of thinking which seems to characterize the rigid low scorer. The present subject seems to proceed in the same way as she approaches minority questions.
Subject believes that all people are one, and again she feels that is the only point of view possible for a true Christian.
The somewhat sweeping expression "that all people are one" should be noted: a person free of stereotypy would rather tend to acknowledge differ- ences and to take a positive stand towards differentiation. What is meant is probably "equal in the sight of God" and she deduces her tolerance from this general assumption.
As mentioned in the chapter on politics, the superficiality of her progres- sivism is indicated by her highly aggressive attitude towards alcoholism, called by herself "one of her pet subjects," which plays almost the same role as do certain paranoid ideas in the "Cranks" among the high scorers. It may be recalled in this connection, that Alfred McClung Lee has demonstrated the close connection between prohibitionism and prejudiced ways of think- ing. As a matter of fact, there is evidence enough that this "Rigid" low scorer has more than a sprinkling of the "high" mentality. There is the emphasis on "status," with reference to her daughter: -
"I feel badly about her school too-(names the school). The influx of people with lower educational and cultural standards than ours has had effect on the schools of course. "
There are destructive fantasies, thinly veiled by "sensible" moral reflections:
"The same with smoking. I am not really worried about it though. No one of either side of our family ever smoked or drank, with one exception. My husband's sister smoked. She is dead now. "
There is a rationalization of punitiveness:
"If I could bring about Prohibition tomorrow I would do it. I believe in pre- venting everything that doesn't make man better-that makes him worse. Some people say if you forbid something it makes people do it on the sly. Well, I say, how about murder, and robbery, and dope? We have prohibited them and some people still commit crimes, but we do not think of taking off the ban on them. "
And there is, finally, official optimism, a characteristic reaction-formation against underlying destructiveness:
"If one didn't always have hope and believe everything was moving upwards, one's Christianity wouldn't mean anything, would it? "
Under changing conditions she might be willing to join a subversive move- ment as long as it pretended to be "Christian" and to "move upwards. "
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2. THE "PROTESTING" LOW SCORER5
This syndrome is in many respects the counterpart of the "Authoritarian" high scorer. Its determinants are psychological rather than rational. It is based on a specific resolution of the Oedipus complex which has deeply affected the individuals in question. While they are set against paternal authority, they have at the same time internalized the father image to a high degree. One may say that in them the superego is so strong that it turns against its own "model," the father, and all external authorities. They are thoroughly guided by conscience which seems to be, in many cases exhibiting this pattern, a secularization of religious authority. This conscience, however, is quite au- tonomous and independent of outside codes. They "protest" out of purely moral reasons against social repression or at least against some of its extreme manifestations, such as racial prejudice. 6 Most of the "neurotic" low scorers who play such a large role in our sample show the "Protest" syndrome. They are often shy, "retiring," uncertain about themselves, and even given to tor- menting themselves with all kinds of doubts and scruples. They sometimes
show certain compulsive features, and their reaction against prejudice has also an aspect of having been forced upon them by rigid superego demands. They are frequently guilt-ridden and regard the Jews a priori as "victims,"
as being distinctly different from themselves. An element of stereotypy may
be inherent in their sympathies and identifications.
They are guided by the wish to "make good" the injustice that has been done to minorities. At the same time they may be easily attracted by the real or imaginary intellectual qualities of the Jews which they deem to be akin to their desire to be "aloof" from worldly affairs. While being nonauthoritarian in their way of thinking, they are often psychologically constricted and thus not able to act as ener- getically as their conscience demands. It is as if the internalization of con- science has succeeded so well that they are severely inhibited or even psy- chologically "paralyzed. " Their eternal guilt feelings tend to make them regard everyone as "guilty. " Though they detest discrimination, they may _ find it sometimes difficult to stand up against it. Socially, they seem usually
to belong to the middle class, but it is hard to define their group membership in more precise terms. However, our material seems to indicate that they are frequently to be found among people who underwent serious family troubles, such as a divorce of their parents. F127
is extremely pretty in the conventional "campus girl" style. She is very slight, blond, fair-skinned, and blue-eyed. She wears a becoming "sloppy Joe" sweater, daintily fixed blouse, and brief skirt, with bobby socks. She wears a sorority pin. She
5 This term was suggested by J. F. Brown.
6 lt was pointed out in Chapter XVIII that religion, when it has been internalized, is an effective antidote against prejudice and the whole fascist potential, notwithstanding its own authoritarian aspects.
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775
is very friendly and interested, seems to enjoy the discussion, but is quite vague in her answers about family life until the interview is quite well along. Then she suddenly decides to reveal the most important single fact in her life-her parents' divorce which she usually hides-and from that point on speaks with apparent freedom about her own feelings.
She shows the characteristic neurotic concern with herself, indicative of a feeling of impotence: she has a somewhat magical belief in psychology, ap- parently expecting that the psychologist knows more about her than she does herself:
What she would like above all is to be a psychiatrist. (Why? ) "Because psychi- atrists know more about people. Everyone tells me their troubles. I don't think there is anything more satisfying than to be able to help people with their problems. But I don't have the brains or the patience to be a psychiatrist. That is just an idea. "
Her attitude towards the father is hostile:
Father is a lawyer. A~ present he is enlisted in the army and is somewhere in the Pacific, in charge of a Negro battalion. (What does he think about that? ) "I don't know what he thinks about anything. "
Her social attitude is a combination of conformist "correctness," the em- phatic and self-confessed desire for "pleasure" (almost as if her conscience would order her to enjoy herself), and a tendency towards retiring in- ternalization. Her indifference to "status," though perhaps not quite au- thentic, is noteworthy.
(Interests? ) "Oh fun-and serious things too. I like to read and discuss things. I like bright people-can't stand clinging vines. Like to dance, dress up, go places. Am not much good at sports, but I play at them-tennis, swimming. I belong to a sorority and we do lots of war work as well as entertaining service men. (Subject names sorority. ) (That is supposed to be a good house isn't it? ) They say so. I didn't think there was anything very special about it. "
Her social progressiveness is characterized by both an element of fear and a conscientious sense of justice:
(What do you think about poverty? ) "I hate to think of it. And I don't think it is necessary. (Who is to blame? ) Oh, I don't mean the poor people are. I don't know, but you would think that by now we could work out a way so that everyone would have enough. "
Her anxiety makes her more aware of the fascist potential than most other low scorers are:
"It would be terrible to have Nazis here. Of course there are some. And they would like to have the same thing happen. . . . Lots of Jewish kids have a hard time-in the service, and in going to medical school. It isn't fair. (Why the dis- crimination? ) I don't know unless it is the Nazi influence. No, it went back before that. I guess there always are some people who have ideas like the Nazis. "
Her indignation is primarily directed against "unfairness. " The notion that
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"there are always people with ideas like the Nazis" is remarkable: a highly developed sense of responsibility seems to give her an understanding in social? matters that goes far beyond her purely intellectual insight. Psychologically, the complete absence of prejudice in her case seems best understood as a superego function, since the girl relates a rather unpleasant experience which otherwise might well have made her prejudiced: she was kidnapped, as a child of four, by a Negro but
"He didn't hurt me. I don't think I was even scared. "
As to the genetic background of her attitude, the following clinical data are pertinent:
"I am more like my father I am afraid and that isn't good. He is a very impatient man, overbearing, and everything for himself. He and I didn't get along. He favored my sister because she played up to him. But both of us suffered with him. If I even called my sister a name as kids will do when they fight, I got spanked, and hard. That used to worry my mother. For that reason she hardly ever punished us, because he did it all the time, and mostly for nothing. I was spanked constantly. I remember that better than anything. (Do you think your mother and father loved each other? ) No, perhaps they did at first, but my mother couldn't stand the way he treated us. She divorced him. " (She flushes and her eyes fill with tears as she says this. When interviewer commented that she had not realized the parents were divorced she says-"1 wasn't going to say anything. I hardly ever do. ")
As to neurotic traits: there are indications of a strong mother-fixation:
"I don't want mother to ever get married again. (Why? ) I don't know. She doesn't need to. She can have friends. She is very attractive and has lots of friends but I couldn't stand to have her marry again. (Do you think she might anyway? ) No. She won't if I don't want her to. "
And there are symptoms of sexual inhibition, based on her experience of the breakdown of her parents' marriage.
(Boys? ) "Oh, I don't get serious and I don't want them to. I neck a little of course, but nothing to give them any idea I am cheap. I don't like cheap fellows either. "
Her statement that she does not want to commit herself because she is afraid of war marriages is probably a rationalization.
3. THE "IMPULSIVE" LOW SCORER
The case of an "impulse-ridden" low scorer has been described by Frenkel- Brunswik and Sanford (38). They write:
The case of an "impulse ridden" low scorer has been described by Frenkel- Brunswik and Sanford (44). They write:
as most typical of our low extremes. This girl was clearly impulse ridden. Her ego was lined up with her id, so that all kinds of excesses were made to seem permissible to her. In stating why she liked Jews she gave much the same reasons that the high extremes had given for hating them.
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777
There is reason to assume that this case represents a syndrome of its own, being in some respects the counterpart of the psychopathic high scorer. This syndrome stands out in all-adjusted people who have an extremely strong id, but are relatively free of destructive impulses: people who, on account of their own libidinous situation, sympathize with everything they feel to be repressed. Moreover, they are those who respond so strongly to all kinds of stimuli that the ingroup-outgroup relation has no meaning to them-rather, they are attracted by everything that is "different" and promises some new kind of gratification. If they have destructive elements, these seem to be di- rected against themselves instead of against others. The range of this syn- drome seems to reach from libertines and "addicts" of all kinds, over certain asocial characters such as prostitutes and nonviolent criminals, to certain psychotics. It may also be noted that in Germany very few Nazis were found among actors, circus folk, and vagrants-people whom the Nazis put into concentration camps. It is difficult to say what are the deeper psychological sources of this syndrome. It seems, however, that there is weakness both in the superego and in the ego, and that this makes these individuals somewhat unstable in political matters as well as in other areas. They certainly do not think in stereotypes, but it is doubtful to what extent they succeed in con- ceptualization at all.
Our illustration, F205, is selected from the Psychiatric Clinic material:
She is a pleasantly mannered, attractive young college girl who is obviously seriously maladjusted and who suffers from great mood swings, tension, who can- not concentrate on her school work and has no goals in life. . . . Sometimes she is extremely upset, comes crying and "mixed up," complains that she is not being helped fast enough. Therapist feels that she cannot stand any deeper probing, that therapy will have to be mostly supportive, because of her weak ego, possibility of precipitating a psychosis. Schizoid tendencies.
She is set against prejudice with a strong accent on "interbreeding," prob- ably an expression of her own impulse for promiscuity: there should be no "boundaries":
(Prejudices? ) "If there were interbreeding between races it might help in the combining of cultures-it may internationalize culture. I think there should be one system of education everywhere. It may not be practical-but perhaps selective breeding would be possible-an accumulation of good traits might come out. And the imbeciles could be sterilized. " (Quotes some study on heredity subject has learned about. ) "It seems improvements aren't made fast enough. The whole society is ill and unhappy. "
The last sentence indicates that her own discontent leads her, by the way of empathy, towards a rather radical and consistent critique of society. The keenness of her insight as well as her being attracted by what is "different" comes out even more clearly in her statement on minority problems:
''There is a terrific amount of minority oppression-prejudice. There is a fear of
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minorities, a lack of knowledge. I would like to assimilate all groups-internation- ally. Would want the education of the world unified. The minorities themselves also keep themselves apart. It's a vicious circle. Society makes them outcasts and they react this way. " (Differences? ) (Interviewer tried hard to have subject describe differences between groups, but subject insisted): "All differences that exist are due to conditions people grow up in and also to the emotional responses . (to discrimination). (Jews? ) I don't see how they are different as a group. I have Jewish friends. . . . Maybe they are more sensitive because of prejudice against them. But that's good. "
According to the clinical data the girl is a genuine Lesbian, who was severely reprimanded because of her homosexuality, and became afterwards "rather promiscuous to determine whether she did react sexually to men. " "All emotionally upset in one way or the other," she said. Her later history indicates that the Lesbian component is stronger than anything else.
It may be added that the Los Angeles sample contains three call-house girls, all of them completely free of prejudice and also low on the F scale. Since their profession tends to make them resentful about sex altogether, and since they profess symptoms of frigidity, they do not seem to belong to the "Impulsive" syndrome. However, only much closer analysis could ascer- tain whether the ultimate basis of their character formation is of the "im- pulsive" kind and has only been hidden by later reaction-formations, or whether their low score is due to a purely social factor, namely the in- numerable contacts they have with all kinds of people.
4. THE "EASY-GOING" LOW SCORER
This syndrome is the exact opposite of the "Manipulative" high scorer. Negatively, it is characterized by a marked tendency to "let things go," a profound unwillingness to do violence to any object (an unwillingness which often may approach, on the surface level, conformity), and by an extreme reluctance to make decisions, often underscored by the subjects themselves. This reluctance even affects their language: they may be recognized by the frequency of unfinished sentences, as if they would not like to commit them- selves, but rather leave it to the listener to decide on the merits of the case. ' Positively, they are inclined to "live and let live," while at the same time their own desires seem to be free of the acquisitive touch. Grudging and dis- content are absent. They show a certain psychological richness, the opposite of constrictedness: a capacity for enjoying things, imagination, a sense of humor which often assumes the form of self-irony. The latter, however, is as little destructive as their other attitudes: it is as if they were ready to con- fess all kinds of weaknesses not so much out of any neurotic compulsion as because of a strong underlying sense of inner security. They can give them- selves up without being afraid of losing themselves. They are rarely radical in their political outlook, but rather behave as if they were already living under nonrepressive conditions, in a truly human society, an attitude which
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may, sometimes, tend to weaken their power of resistance. There is no evi- dence of any truly schizoid tendencies. They are completely nonstereopathic -they do not even resist stereotypy, but simply fail to understand the urge
~ for subsumption.
The etiology of the "Easy-Going" syndrome is still somewhat obscure. The
subjects in whom it is pronounced seem not to be defined by the preponder- ance of any psychological agency, or by retrogression to any particular in- fantile phase though there is, superficially seen, something of the child about them. Rather, they should be understood dynamically. They are people whose character structure has not become "congealed": no set pattern of control by any of the agencies of Freud's typology has crystallized, but they are completely "open" to experience. This, however, does not imply ego weakness, but rather the absence of traumatic experiences and defects which otherwise lead to the "reification" of the ego. In this sense, they are "normal," but it is just this normality which gives them in our civilization the appear- ance of a certain immaturity. Not only did they not undergo severe child- hood conflicts, but their whole childhood seems to be determined by motherly or other female images. 7 Perhaps they may best be characterized as those who know no fear of women. This may account for the absence of aggressive- ness. At the same time, it is possibly indicative of an archaic trait: to them, the world has still a matriarchal outlook. Thus, they may often represent, sociologically, the genuine "folk" element as against rational civilization. Representatives of this syndrome are not infrequent among the lower middle- classes. Though no "action" is to be expected of them, one may count on them as on persons who, under no circumstances, ever will adjust themselves to political or psychological fascism. The aforementioned M711
is very amiable, mild, gende, casual, slow, and somewhat lethargic in both voice and manner. He is quite verbal, but very circumstantial. His statements are typically surrounded with qualifications to which he commonly devotes more attention than to the main proposition. He seems to suffer from pervasive indecision and doubt, to be pretty unsure of his ideas, and to have great difficulty in committing himself to positive statements on very many matters. In general, he tends to avoid committing himself to things, either intellectually or emotionally, and in general avoids getting involved in things.
He describes his choice of profession as accidental, but it is interesting that he was originally a landscape architect-which may imply a desire for the res- titution of nature rather than its domination-and later became an inter- viewer in government employment, a job that gives him the gratification of helping other people without his stressing, however, this aspect narcis- sistically. He is not indifferent to wealth and admits his wish for "security," but is, at the same time, totally unimpressed by the importance of money per
7 The subject chosen as an illustration of this type "was brought up in a household of women-mother and grandmother. "
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se. His religious attitude has been described in Chapter XVIII, and it fits psy- chologically, in every detail, into the make-up of the "Easy-Going" syn- drome. It may be added that he "does not believe in the Immaculate Con- ception" but doesn't think "it makes any difference. "
When asked about discipline in childhood, he answers "practically none," "very undisciplined. " His strong attachment to his mother is emphasized without any inhibition: the only period of his childhood when there were any "bones of contention" was when his mother "exhibited her possessive- ness. She didn't like the gals I went with. " What he himself likes about women is described as follows:
"A wfully hard to say when you're pretty sold on a gal. . . . Seems to have all the things I like-fun to be with, brains, pretty.
