Perceived Threat and Authoritarianism
Abstract
There has been a long history of work on authoritarianism that has looked at the role of societal threat. Much of the empirical research in this tradition has relied on aggregate data to examine the relationship between societal threat and authoritarian attitudes and behaviors. Our analysis uses individual‐level data and a range of perceived threat measures to better understand the dynamics of authoritarianism and threat. We also move beyond the hypothesis of a direct relationship between threat and authoritarianism, and hypothesize instead that the relationship involves interaction effects: societal threat activates authoritarian predispositions. As predicted, our analysis finds no evidence of a direct effect of societal threat but significant evidence of an interaction between authoritarian predispositions and perceived threat. We consider the implications of these results for our understanding of authoritarianism.
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The results suggest that the prevalence of a disease-irrelevant threat-famine-may also uniquely encourage authoritarian political governance, consistent with past research linking other threats to authoritarianism.
“These results also suggest that the prevalence of a disease-irrelevant threat—famine—may also uniquely encourage authoritarian political governance, which is consistent with past research that links other threats to authoritarianism [41], [42].”
From Pathogens and Politics: Further Evidence That Parasite Prevalence Predicts Authoritarianism (2013) · cites this paper as [41]
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- Authors
- Feldman, S., & Stenner, K.
- Affiliations
- Stony Brook University (US)
- Duke University (US)
- Venue
- Political Psychology
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 1997-12
- Volume
- 18
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 741-770
- ISSN
- 0162-895X (ISSN-L)
- 1467-9221
- OpenAlex
- W2050580556
- Cited by
- 1,043
- References
- 22
- Citations by year
- 2026: 36 · 2025: 69 · 2024: 46 · 2023: 64 · 2022: 75 · 2021: 83 · 2020: 97 · 2019: 89 · 2018: 48 · 2017: 55 · 2016: 37 · 2015: 35 · 2014: 37 · 2013: 37 · 2012: 28
- FWCI
- 20.35
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Political Psychology (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Social and Intergroup Psychology
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Political Conflict and Governance
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Death Anxiety and Social Exclusion
- Keywords
- authoritarianism, threat perception, societal threats, interaction effects, authoritarian attitudes, microdata
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