Opening the can of worms: A comprehensive examination of authoritarianism

We carry out an exhaustive analysis of both right-wing and left-wing forms of authoritarianism in order to assess the specific predictors of these illiberal agendas. Firstly, we conduct a literature review on authoritarianism as a multidimensional psychological construct, with emphasis on its controversial links to the political spectrum, religion, and economic conservatism. Moreover, we review its potential associations with social axioms, as an interesting psychological framework to aid understanding of authoritarian attitudes. We extract three working hypotheses from this literature review, all successfully tested in two empirical studies (n = 1097 and n = 1102). Our results suggest that the strongest predictor of right-wing authoritarianism is social conservatism, whereas left-wing authoritarianism is better understood as an illiberal backlash against conservatism-related constructs. Both authoritarian agendas may be motivated by their opposed expectations of reward for conventional behavior. •Social conservatism is the cornerstone of right-wing authoritarianism.•Left-wing authoritarianism is largely explained by opposition toward conservatism-related constructs.•Both illiberal agendas may be motivated by expected reward for application.