# Are you an authoritarian? A quiz, plus free online book **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 11, 2007, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-an-authoritarian-a-quiz-plus-free-online-book/429626 "2007-12-11T17:18:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/bc8723/32.png) [@Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unauthorized_Cinnamon)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2007, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-an-authoritarian-a-quiz-plus-free-online-book/429626/1 "2007-12-11T17:18:14Z")
Bob Altemeyer has spent decades studying authoritarian personality, and has some fascinating things to say about it. I came upon his work through John Dean’s book, _Conservatives Without Conscience_, and it really interested me. Now I find that he has published his book [online](http://home.cc.umanitoba.ca/~altemey/) , and I’ve just started it. Early on there is a quiz to get an idea where you fall on the authoritarian scale, and having taken it, I’m really curious how my fellow Dopers might score. [Here](http://members.shaw.ca/jeanaltemeyer/drbob/chapter1.pdf) is a link to the pdf of the chapter - just scroll down to page 10 to take the quiz. I’m going to spoiler my results, the description of the scoring, and my speculations, in case you want to avoid contaminating yourself before participating.The scale runs from 20 (very low authoritarian tendencies) to 180 (very high tendencies). College students average around 75, older folk around 90. I got . . . a 24. 😃 Given the skeptical nature of this joint, I suspect Dopers will average a lower score than the general population. I think hereafter we can dispense with spoiler boxes, since this is meant to be a discussion of the quiz results; I just wanted people to be able to read the OP without skewing their results too much. ---
**Author:** ![Enginerd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/bcef8e/32.png) [@Enginerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enginerd)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2007, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-an-authoritarian-a-quiz-plus-free-online-book/429626/2 "2007-12-11T17:31:01Z")
I got a 21… Only a fascist would score as high as a 24! 😛 I have to say that I’m shocked at the range of scores that he presents there. Most of those statements seemed so absolute that there’s barely any middleground between 4 and -4. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Chao\_Goes\_Mu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_chao_goes_mu/32/3191_2.png) [@The\_Chao\_Goes\_Mu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Chao_Goes_Mu)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2007, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-an-authoritarian-a-quiz-plus-free-online-book/429626/3 "2007-12-11T17:37:37Z")
I got a 21. I hated the wording and of course any question that brought tied religion in with law and government did not get a favorable response from me. ---
**Author:** ![Telperien](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/65b543/32.png) [@Telperien](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telperien)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2007, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-an-authoritarian-a-quiz-plus-free-online-book/429626/4 "2007-12-11T17:53:06Z")
I got a 27. In this crowd, that makes me look like a pawn of the Man. ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2007, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-an-authoritarian-a-quiz-plus-free-online-book/429626/5 "2007-12-11T17:53:41Z")
I got a 91… ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2007, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-an-authoritarian-a-quiz-plus-free-online-book/429626/6 "2007-12-11T17:55:03Z")
But, I think this test is skewed. Authoritarian doesn’t have to mean in a conservative way like all of the questions were bent (abortion, homosexuality, pornography) A person can be equally authoritarian by forcing liberal views on anyone… ---
**Author:** ![Telperien](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/65b543/32.png) [@Telperien](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telperien)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2007, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-an-authoritarian-a-quiz-plus-free-online-book/429626/7 "2007-12-11T17:56:13Z")
[QUOTE=jtgain] But, I think this test is skewed. Authoritarian doesn’t have to mean in a conservative way like all of the questions were bent (abortion, homosexuality, pornography) A person can be equally authoritarian by forcing liberal views on anyone.. [/QUOTE] Authoritarianism would tend to vary depending who the authorities are, right? ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2007, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-an-authoritarian-a-quiz-plus-free-online-book/429626/8 "2007-12-11T18:05:23Z")
1. Man, am I a Fascist or what? ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2007, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-an-authoritarian-a-quiz-plus-free-online-book/429626/9 "2007-12-11T18:09:46Z")
26 ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2007, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-an-authoritarian-a-quiz-plus-free-online-book/429626/10 "2007-12-11T18:13:37Z")
25, here. I’ll get back to organizing the Santa Cruz branch of the John Birch society… ---
**Author:** ![Taber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ac91a4/32.png) [@Taber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taber)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2007, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-an-authoritarian-a-quiz-plus-free-online-book/429626/11 "2007-12-11T18:16:53Z")
[QUOTE=jtgain] But, I think this test is skewed. Authoritarian doesn’t have to mean in a conservative way like all of the questions were bent (abortion, homosexuality, pornography) A person can be equally authoritarian by forcing liberal views on anyone.. [/QUOTE] Did you miss that the test was trying to place people on “The Right-Wing Authoritarianism Scale?” A low score means you aren’t a right wing authoritarian, and doesn’t say anything about whether you are a left wing authoritarian. ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2007, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-an-authoritarian-a-quiz-plus-free-online-book/429626/12 "2007-12-11T18:22:15Z")
I got a 31, but I think I should deduct at least 5 points because the whole time I was adding up my scores I was thinking “Now, _why_ am I doing all this, just 'cause some guy on the Internet told me to take some silly test posted on the Internet by some other guy? This is probably all bunk anyway.” Of course, if I _hadn’t taken the test at all_, that would entitle me to deduct 15 points. ---
**Author:** ![SmartAleq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smartaleq/32/163_2.png) [@SmartAleq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartAleq)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2007, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-an-authoritarian-a-quiz-plus-free-online-book/429626/13 "2007-12-11T18:23:21Z")
22 here–I’m such a pawn of the right wing! 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Isosleepy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/isosleepy/32/479_2.png) [@Isosleepy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isosleepy)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2007, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-an-authoritarian-a-quiz-plus-free-online-book/429626/14 "2007-12-11T18:24:54Z")
I think anyone scoring less than 60 is trying \*a little too hard \* to fit in with the non-conformists, and has knuckled down irretrievably to their agenda. 😃 anyone over 100: ve velkom you! you vil find zat brown or black make such pretty unifohms! :rolleyes: those in the 60-100 middle: Hide. _everyone_ is coming for you. :eek: Or we could, as the author suggests, take this test with a grain of salt. As it seems to serve little purpose other than to get a segment of dopers to assert their closeness to the magical 20 score… ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2007, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-an-authoritarian-a-quiz-plus-free-online-book/429626/15 "2007-12-11T18:27:14Z")
1. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2007, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-an-authoritarian-a-quiz-plus-free-online-book/429626/16 "2007-12-11T18:31:46Z")
I got a 24. I guess I’m getting mellow in my old age. Sometimes I do want the cops to come and shut down those damn kids with their damn party and their damn rap music. ---
**Author:** ![Bobotheoptimist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/919ad9/32.png) [@Bobotheoptimist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bobotheoptimist)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2007, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-an-authoritarian-a-quiz-plus-free-online-book/429626/17 "2007-12-11T18:41:22Z")
35 I think I gained a few points for slightly disagreeing with the inclusion of wording such as “praise”, “courage”, “have to admire”, “the best people”, etc. I don’t praise and admire the courage of gays or feminists any more than I admire the courage of atheists or gun owners. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2007, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-an-authoritarian-a-quiz-plus-free-online-book/429626/18 "2007-12-11T18:51:32Z")
I got a 29, but that’s only because I hate giving really extreme answers to every question (even if they are extreme on the corect side). I’d hate to have anything to do with people who scored more than 40 or so on this. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2007, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-an-authoritarian-a-quiz-plus-free-online-book/429626/19 "2007-12-11T18:54:47Z")
[QUOTE=Bobotheoptimist] 35 I think I gained a few points for slightly disagreeing with the inclusion of wording such as “praise”, “courage”, “have to admire”, “the best people”, etc. I don’t praise and admire the courage of gays or feminists any more than I admire the courage of atheists or gun owners. [/QUOTE] That’s where I gained a lot of points as well. I don’t **have** to admire anybody, even if I agree with their stance. I can think some of them are complete assholes, while still siding with them politically. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2007, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-an-authoritarian-a-quiz-plus-free-online-book/429626/20 "2007-12-11T18:57:54Z")
1. But that depends on what “lifestyle” means: after all, murder and rape is a lifestyle far more than one’s sexual orientation. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-an-authoritarian-a-quiz-plus-free-online-book/429626.md?page=2)