Profiling authoritarian leaders and followers

Research has long suggested that there may be distinct subpopulations of authoritarian leaders and followers within the broader population. We describe a latent profile analysis of right-wing authoritarianism (RWA) and social dominance orientation (SDO) in a New Zealand national probability sample (N = 18,248) that - for the first time - reliably identifies these two types. Consistent with the positive correlation between SDO and RWA, most people in New Zealand (about 91.2%) expressed comparable levels of RWA and SDO (i.e., moderate-moderate or low-low, but no high-high profile). Two small and distinct subpopulations diverted from this pattern, instead fitting a high-SDO/low-RWA authoritarian leader (1.2%) or low-SDO/high-RWA authoritarian follower (7.6%) profile. Authoritarian leaders tended to show the least concern for human rights, and were least willing to make personal sacrifices for the environment, but tended to support same-sex marriage, while authoritarian followers were particularly opposed to same-sex marriage, and yet highly supportive of human rights. These two profiles represent distinct subpopulations of people within society who are predisposed to seek dominance over others and those predisposed to unquestioningly follow them.