authoritarianism
Definition
Authoritarianism refers to a form of governance and individual ideology characterized by centralized political power, obedience to authority, endorsement of hierarchy, and often the suppression of personal freedoms and civil liberties, particularly affecting marginalized groups. At the societal level, authoritarianism is legitimized through ideologies claiming that centralized leadership provides competence and protection from external threats, while at the individual level it manifests as submission to authority and aggression toward norm violators. Authoritarianism can be legitimized and sustained when actors redefine criteria of intergroup comparison to make undemocratic systems appear consistent with group identity and collective memory, or when value-instantiating beliefs—perceptions of how events affect one's core values—are shaped to frame authoritarian actions as preserving social order and protecting conservation values such as security, conformity, and tradition. Colorblind ideologies and selective collective memory obscure histories of racist authoritarianism, making populations more receptive to authoritarian rhetoric and consolidation of power by scapegoating marginalized groups.
Sources: Lavie-Driver & Linden (2026), Ponizovskiy et al. (2026), Perez et al. (2026)
Related Terms
Applications
Authoritarianism and Collective Memory
Collective memory shapes whether democracy becomes central to a group's identity and whether undemocratic backsliding is perceived as unjust, with memories that valorize authoritarian stability and gloss over its repressive features reducing collective action against democratic decline. Selective and colorblind collective memory of racist histories allows publics to remain ignorant of long-standing authoritarianism in the United States, making them vulnerable to contemporary authoritarian rhetoric.
Sources: Lavie-Driver & Linden (2026), Perez et al. (2026)
Authoritarianism and Social Identity
Social identity processes allow undemocratic actors to redefine intergroup comparison standards to legitimize authoritarianism, such as when modern Russian identity is portrayed as built on a strong authoritarian state superior to democracy, or when religious identity is prioritized over democratic identity to justify reforms that weaken democratic institutions.
Sources: Lavie-Driver & Linden (2026)
Authoritarianism and Propaganda
Propaganda operates not merely through exposure to messaging but by structuring how people interpret events in value-laden terms, redefining the moral significance of state-sanctioned actions to make them consistent with individuals' core values and priorities, thereby providing emotional coherence for compliance with authoritarian regimes.
Sources: Ponizovskiy et al. (2026)
