The Trump effect: New study connects white American intolerance and support for authoritarianism
Since the founding of the United States, politicians and pundits have warned that partisanship is a danger to democracy. George Washington, in his Farewell Address, worried that political parties, or factions, could "allow cunning, ambitious and unprincipled men" to rise to power and subvert democracy. More recently, many political observers are concerned that increasing political polarization on left and right makes compromise impossible, and leads to the destruction of democratic norms and institutions.
A new study, however, suggests that the main threat to our democracy may not be the hardening of political ideology, but rather the hardening of one particular political ideology. Political scientists Steven V. Miller of Clemson and Nicholas T. Davis of Texas A&M have released a working paper titled "White Outgroup Intolerance and Declining Support for American Democracy." Their study finds a correlation between white American's intolerance, and support for authoritarian rule. In other words, when intolerant white people fear democracy may benefit marginalized people, they abandon their commitment to democracy.
https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/trump-effect-new-study-connects-white-american-intolerance-support-authoritarianism-ncna877886
ewagner
(18,964 posts)I'd like to see the research but the basic premise seems to be logical..
What scares me is the amount of money that will be thrown at the 2018 elections and the ability of the conservatives to "control the message"...if they are successful, then I also fear for our democratic republic.
malthaussen
(17,216 posts)It should come as no surprise that those on top of the food chain support a government that will keep them there.
-- Mal
Igel
(35,337 posts)Not the pre-chewed half-digested version that's always so attractive.
http://svmiller.com/research/white-outgroup-intolerance-democratic-support/
or https://github.com/svmiller/woi/blob/master/woi.pdf'
Note that the data include only whites and it's the correlation that's at issue, not the size of the subgroups being investigated.
The writers don't make a claim about whites versus others.
The year range is 1995-2011, for those who figure this is somehow Trump's influence on Clinton's, Bush II's, and Obama's "legacies" of whatever. They project, but at that point it's speculation.
I also wonder what an alternative hypothesis would turn up: That those on the right and left are both groups of their own (since the authors claim that all individuals must find identity in a group); moreover, they also feel connected to power and often express incredible intolerance not just as part of their group identity but as an achievable goal. Those in the center are increasingly disempowered, meaning that any intolerance could not be projected into some sort of implementable political project for the future.
MBS
(9,688 posts)stuffmatters
(2,574 posts)MBS
(9,688 posts)It's a trend that goes back decades. . . in my opinion, starting as far back as social changes in the 60's, and definitely evident from the time of Reagan on. The racist opposition to President Obama and Trump's "election" have brought it all out in the open, but it's been brewing for a while .
Whatever the timing, the association between white intolerance and support for authoritarianism makes horrifying sense.