Authoritarianism and Polarization in American Politics
Cambridge University Press
Edition: Illustrated, 8/24/2009
EAN 9780521711241, ISBN10: 052171124X
Paperback, 248 pages, 23.5 x 15.6 x 1.6 cm
Language: English
Originally published in English
Although politics at the elite level has been polarized for some time, a scholarly controversy has raged over whether ordinary Americans are polarized. This book argues that they are and that the reason is growing polarization of worldviews - what guides people's view of right and wrong and good and evil. These differences in worldview are rooted in what Marc J. Hetherington and Jonathan D. Weiler describe as authoritarianism. They show that differences of opinion concerning the most provocative issues on the contemporary issue agenda - about race, gay marriage, illegal immigration, and the use of force to resolve security problems - reflect differences in individuals' levels of authoritarianism. Events and strategic political decisions have conspired to make all these considerations more salient. The authors demonstrate that the left and the right have coalesced around these opposing worldviews, which has provided politics with more incandescent hues than before.
1. Spanking or time out
a clash of worldviews?
2. Putting polarization in perspective
3. Authoritarianism and non-authoritarianism
concepts and measures
4. Historical account of the roots of worldview evolution
5. How authoritarianism structures contemporary issues
6. Threat and authoritarianism
polarization or convergence
7. Evidence of worldview evolution
8. Immigration
a reinforcing cleavage that constrains the GOP
9. What the 2008 democratic nomination struggle reveals about party polarization
10. A somewhat different take on polarization.