Original scientific paper

AUTHORITARIAN PERSONALITY, POLITICAL WORLDVIEW, AND PARTY PREFERENCES

Ivan Šiber ; Faculty of Political Science, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia

Abstract

This work presents the results of empirical research of the relation among authoritarianism, political worldview, and party choice. Based on the existing research, the starting assumption is that authoritarianism is largely typical for the electoral body of the “rightwing” parties as well as for the conservative worldview. The specially designed scale for measuring authoritarian/conformist tendencies has shown a marked mono-dimensionality and inner consistency. The findings have confirmed the initial assumption; they have also shown a relatively regular correspondence between a party’s position on the “left-right” spectrum and the degree of authoritarianism of its electoral body. The sole exception is a higher degree of authoritarianism of HDZ’s electoral body than that of HSP’s, which may be explained by the fact that the applied scale has measured solely the attitude towards authority and conformity and not the attitude towards minority groups, which is a component of the famous “F” scale. Also, it has been shown that the voters of the so-called “modernist” worldviews (liberal, social-democratic) are significantly less authoritarian than the voters of the so-called “conservative” worldviews (democratic-Christian, Christian-socialist, traditional, or conservative).

Keywords

Hrčak ID:

32239

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/32239

Publication date:

6.12.1998.

Article data in other languages: croatian

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