For a real life examination of the phenomenon, I always go back to John Dean’s Conservatives without Conscience. He examined the “Right Wing Authoritarian” mindset…
That was a great book, though I don’t have a copy anymore. But it led me to another great one, which I do still have – “The Authoritarians” by Dr. Bob Altemeyer of the University of Manitoba, who made it his life’s work to study Authoritarianism, and in particular, Authoritarian Followers.
https://theauthoritarians.org/
Dean discovered Altemeyer’s work in the course of his research for Conservatives Without Conscience, and was deeply influenced by it. He got in touch with Altemeyer, who had written a number of scholarly works, but nothing intended for a mass audience, and suggested Altemeyer write something more accessible to the average reader. The result was The Authoritarians, which is written in a conversational style, but at the same time thoroughly grounded in Altemeyer’s decades of research.
It’s also, surprisingly, a very witty and entertaining book, a real page-turner. And has the funniest footnotes I have ever seen in a book that takes on a very serious subject. The humor really helps, as obviously a lot of the subject matter is pretty grim. It works in kind of a “spoonful of sugar to help the medicine go down” kind of way.
If you haven’t had the pleasure of reading The Authoritarians, I highly recommend it. Printed copies are available, and there’s an audiobook version, but it’s also available as a free e-book:
https://theauthoritarians.org/options-for-getting-the-book/
In my opinion both Conservatives Without Conscience, and The Authoritarians, are must-reads for anyone concerned about The Big Picture in politics, especially in the Trump era.
