ity relations (of earlier generations) become internalized as an enduring part
of character, and in turn, how does the socialization process and resulting
authoritarian character structure (super-ego) secure and reproduce domina-
tion. Authoritarianism, quacharacterological dimension, disposed the embrace
of authoritarian ideologies, especially those with Manichean values and xeno-
phobic “us/them” views of the world. Authoritarian personalities typically
display a great deal of conformity and conventionalism, and willingly sub-
mit to authorities and authority figures. S/he projects aggression to outsiders
or those with “different” lifestyles and/or values and justifies his/her hatred
to the Other for that reason. Authoritarians tend to be anti-intraceptive,
unimaginative and prone to stereotypes and clichés as opposed to more com-
plex and ambiguous understandings. They much value power, especially
those who are in power. They have a destructive, hostile, cynical attitude to
the world, and an exaggerated concern with sexuality due to their own repres-
sion. Beneath the vast historical and cultural differences of Nazism, Christian
Fundamentalism and Islamism, there are common social psychological under-
pinnings beginning with the tendencies for authoritarian submission. I would
suggest there are four, overlapping themes, 1) alienated desires, “submission
to higher authority” and redemptive violence, 2) ressentement, 3) the sim-
plification of reality and 4) the articulation of hope.
- Alienation, Desire and Self: In the 1844 manuscripts, there is an implicit
philosophical anthropology of motivation that rested on essentialist assump-
tions that clearly anticipated much of Freud’s theories of desires and dreams.
Marx’s critique of alienated labor argued that selling one’s labor power as a
commodity by producing commodities produces a system that stands out-
side the person and refluxes back upon him/her rendering him/her power-
less. Similarly, workers became alienated from their very species being and
their community. The worker lost all sense of dignity as his/her self was
truncated by economic necessity and s/he was reduced to little more than a
beast of burden. S/he was further humiliated living in a bourgeois society
where money was the basis of pride and respect and the power to buy not
only material wealth, but beauty, health and wisdom. As a result of living so
close to the edge, life was rendered meaningless. Otherwise said, within the
1844 Manuscripts there is an implicit theory of fundamental human needs
for 1) agency, being in control of one’s life, 2) attachments and connections
to people, 3) self-esteem and dignity, and 4) anxiety-reducing shared meanings.
These “desires” have been better theorized within psychoanalytic frame-
works. Beginning with Wilhelm Reich’s insights on the psychology of Fascism,
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