Authoritarianism and Polarization in American Politics

Although politics at the elite level has been polarized for some time, a scholarly controversy has raged over whether ordinary Americans are polarized.

This book argues that they are and that the reason is the growing polarization of worldviews - what guides people's view of right and wrong and good and evil. These differences in worldview are rooted in what Marc J. Hetherington and Jonathan D. Weiler describe as authoritarianism. They show that differences of opinion concerning the most provocative issues on the contemporary issue agenda - about race, gay marriage, illegal immigration, and the use of force to resolve security problems - reflect differences in individuals' levels of authoritarianism. This makes authoritarianism an especially compelling explanation of contemporary American politics. Events and strategic political decisions have conspired to make all these considerations more salient. The authors demonstrate that the left and the right have coalesced around these opposing worldviews, which has provided politics with more incandescent hues than before.

Author: Marc J. Hetherington, Jonathan D. Weiler
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 10/22/2009
Pages: 248
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.79lbs
Size: 9.10h x 6.00w x 0.60d
ISBN: 9780521711241

Review Citation(s):
Choice 07/01/2010

About the Author
Hetherington, Marc J.: - Marc J. Hetherington is currently a Professor of Political Science at Vanderbilt University. In 2004 he was awarded the Emerging Scholar Award from the Public Opinion, Elections, and Voting Behavior Section of the American Political Science Association for his scholarly contribution within his first ten years in the profession. He is also the author of Why Trust Matters: Declining Political Trust and the Demise of American Liberalism and numerous articles that have appeared in American Political Science Review, the American Journal of Political Science, the Journal of Politics, the British Journal of Political Science, and Public Opinion Quarterly. 

Weiler, Jonathan D.: - Jonathan D. Weiler is currently Director of Undergraduate Studies and Adjunct Assistant Professor of International and Area Studies at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. His previous book, Human Rights in Russia: A Darker Side of Reform, was published in 2004.