Right-Wing Authoritarianism and Social Dominance Appear to be Genetic

We've all noticed the rage-filled trolling behavior of self-described right-wingers, but did you know they are hard-wired to dominate.

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The holiday season is here. This means a lot, or very little, depending on your traditions and beliefs, but one thing it usually means is some form of socializing with people. And people can be problematic, as we’ve just witnessed in the last election. Very problematic… So problematic that some of us might have been avoiding people since that date. (It’s me. I’m the one avoiding people.)

It turns out there’s actually science behind why everyone who isn’t filled with crazy rage eventually flees a platform overrun with self-pitying conspiracy theorists whose rhetoric grows increasingly more violent as their threshold for stimulation keeps moving.

born this way

Right-wing authoritarianism and social dominance appear to be in the genes, new research shows.

Yes, there are supposedly genetic foundations for conservatives’ weird submission to a mean daddy kink, aggression toward those who dare to differ from right-wing norms, and a strident belief in hierarchies, according to a study published in the Journal of Personality.

PsyPost explained how right-wing authoritarianism is characterized and how these traits translate into “strong support” for authorities that enforce them* (please note these are simplified takes of the study intended for a wide audience rather than only those who specialize in psychology research):

Right-wing authoritarianism is characterized by three broad attitudes: submission to authorities perceived as established and legitimate, aggression toward individuals or groups that are seen as deviant or dissenting from perceived societal norms, and adherence to conventional norms and values of the society. People high in right-wing authoritarianism tend to value order, tradition, and national unity, showing strong support for authorities that enforce these principles.

And how social dominance orientation is reflected in people who desire INEQUALITY among social groups, which, by the way, is the exact opposite of how they justify the policies implemented to achieve this — think voter suppression of Black voters under the still unsupported and deceptive guise of “vote fraud”.

Social dominance orientation, on the other hand, reflects an individual’s preference for inequality among social groups. This orientation is about the extent to which individuals desire and support hierarchical relationships between groups, believing that some groups are inherently superior to others. Those with high social dominance orientation are more likely to support policies and practices that maintain these disparities, including discrimination against perceived lower-status groups.

The researchers found genetic factors involved in how people see immigration and the use of national resources, for example.

Knowing this, we can perhaps understand how effective it might be to target certain people with misinformation about immigration, such as how 45 et al falsely suggested repeatedly that “immigrants” were taking resources that otherwise would have gone to Black communities.

While these seems farcical and obviously false, especially given from whence it came, it was… effective enough. There are people who were exposed to these lies and naturally fell in line with resentment at “the other.”