The F Scale Reading Group: March 3 8:30 am

Links -- Please find out how you scored on the on line test for the authoritarian personality before the March Meeting

So we finally get to our reading of the Authoritarian Personality. Yesterday, we got pretty far in terms of identifying a liberal authoritarianism that emanates from the elites right now trying to secure the status quo. What happens when in a democracy you characterize relentlessly your adversary as a Fascist? What is the Fascist personality that the post World War II study isolated in a quantitative and qualitative manner? How does it fit into the the Frankfurt School analysis of the culture industry?

Yesterday’s group discussion represented the months of work we have been doing, and now, we finally get to take the test…and face our own ‘personality’ in terms of Fascism. The on line tests are kind of a joke and are part of the personality tests that were really popular for HR and women’s magazines, but they offer us an opportunity to see what the methodology was for measuring (Americans loved numbers) and allegedly preventing the rise of Fascism in American society.

Take the Test

We will discuss our ‘scores’ but also talk about what it means to have a personality test for authoritarianism. Sociologists dismissed the study in the 1960s and 70s, but after Trump was elected in 2016, there was a renewed interest in it. Thank God we’re not quantitative sociologists. We can look at the study as an artifact of 20th century history and critical theory and think about how it might shed light on the Left/Right divide today.

Below the paywall, you’ll find a link to a pdf of The Authoritarian Personality and a Zoom link to the reading group.