Good morning,
I am a psychology student and I want to do a research about attitudes to eugenic abortion and authoritrianism. As far as I know there is RWA and RWAS to measure right-wing authoritarianism, but I didn't found any tool for measure left-wing authoritarianism. If you came across for such a tool, please write to me.
Hi Justyna!
Yes, there is a tool for LWA!
It was developed by Bob Altemeyer who is the great originator of the RWA (the right wing authoritarianism scale) and an expert in the subject of authoritarianism generally. You can find all about LWA, the concept, why it was important to develop, the measurement scale he designed, the research he did with it, in his book: B. Altemeyer, (1996) The authoritarian specter, Harvard University Press. Chapter 9, (Left-wing authoritarianism (pp. 216-234)) gives you all you want to know, including items etcetera. By the way, the entire book is certainly worthwhile to have a look at. It gives a great view of the subject of authoritarianism. Altemeyer's way of writing is somewhat 'direct' for an academic researcher, but it is certainly enlightening and thorough. Reading the chapter you may appreciate that LWA and RWA are both proper, reliable and valid ways to measure authoritarianism. In fact both address the same phenomenon. Authoritarianism appears to be independent of the specific beliefs you hold; it is the fundamentalist and intolerant way you hold them that matters. High authoritarian scores were found in right-wing groups in the US and elsewhere, but also in the Soviet Union (when research there became possible) among the staunch supporters of the communist regime. So, in my opinion, you can use whichever measurement scale you prefer, LWA or RWA or any other scale available in the literature. It does not matter and there are quite a few instruments (shorter and longer) that do the trick.
May I take the opportunity to add a small word of warning? The subject of authoritarianism has proved to be politically highly explosive in the past. Especially in the tense atmosphere of the present time, you may run into considerable risk of political interference, resistance to whatever you find, people getting abusive, etcetera. It may even become a problem in one's further career. Remember that some of the Berkely scientists, who started it all in the 1940s and 1950s (Adorno et al. 1950, The authoritarian personality), got into trouble and had to step out of the subject not to damage their career and because funding for further research became difficult to find.
It is important to take this into consideration. In fact, if you were one of my students and studying in the United States (I know you are not), I would certainly not advice you to take this subject as your focus.
Having said this, I still think that the subject is worthwhile and highly relevant for our understanding of what drives us as human beings. But we must be aware not to stray into anything that smells political, and we must strictly adhere to our scientific principles: rigorous and good research accepting the results that come out (whatever they are) and a great devotion and openness to scientific debate. Wishing you all the best.
Laurens
Right Wing extremists approach the NAZI worldview, whereas Left Wing Extremists approach the Communist worldview. Both are a dynamic of the broad population accepting certain vocal spokespeople holding extremist views.
There is great controversy in the literature, but it suggests that Left Wing Extremists are cognizant of not going "too far" in the leftward direction, whereas Right Wing extremists are less cognizant of going "too far" to the right.
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