Social norms and authoritarianism: A Turkish-American comparison.

Abstract

Examines the influence of social norms on the patterning of authoritarian attitudes. Higher intercorrelations of the various components of authoritarianism were found among American (N = 301) than among Turkish (N =332) high school students, supporting the view of authoritarianism as a relatively coherent and consistent syndrome in the United States but not in Turkey. Mean values of most of the authoritarian variables, however, were higher in Turkey than in the United States, which was attributed to the presence in Turkey of 2 strong social norms, i.e., respect for authority and patriotism. These norms may serve to sharpen and increase those components of authoritarianism to which they are relevant, at the same time weakening the coherence of the whole syndrome in Turkey. (19 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)