Critical Theory and the Authoritarian Personality
The worldwide resurgence of authoritarianism has sparked renewed interest in the Frankfurt School theory of the authoritarian personality, not as a topic of academic debate but as an urgent political factor. Critical Theory and the Authoritarian Personality brings Theodor Adorno’s critique up-to-date in light of new forms of authoritarian politics, recent kinds of authoritarian propaganda and current findings about authoritarian personalities.

Drawing on the work of Slavoj Žižek and the psychoanalysis of Jacques Lacan, this is the first sustained application of psychoanalytic theory to the problem of the authoritarian personality since the classical work of the Frankfurt School. It explores a pressing problem—the resurgence of the radical Right—and proposes new solutions, grounded in the idea of an affective approach to authoritarian politics as something based on transgressive fantasies and political anxieties. Throughout, the book illustrates its theoretical claims with reference to new kinds of authoritarian literature, which today forms an important part of right-wing propaganda.

1145598504
Critical Theory and the Authoritarian Personality
The worldwide resurgence of authoritarianism has sparked renewed interest in the Frankfurt School theory of the authoritarian personality, not as a topic of academic debate but as an urgent political factor. Critical Theory and the Authoritarian Personality brings Theodor Adorno’s critique up-to-date in light of new forms of authoritarian politics, recent kinds of authoritarian propaganda and current findings about authoritarian personalities.

Drawing on the work of Slavoj Žižek and the psychoanalysis of Jacques Lacan, this is the first sustained application of psychoanalytic theory to the problem of the authoritarian personality since the classical work of the Frankfurt School. It explores a pressing problem—the resurgence of the radical Right—and proposes new solutions, grounded in the idea of an affective approach to authoritarian politics as something based on transgressive fantasies and political anxieties. Throughout, the book illustrates its theoretical claims with reference to new kinds of authoritarian literature, which today forms an important part of right-wing propaganda.

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Critical Theory and the Authoritarian Personality

Critical Theory and the Authoritarian Personality

by Geoff M. Boucher
Critical Theory and the Authoritarian Personality

Critical Theory and the Authoritarian Personality

by Geoff M. Boucher

Hardcover

$115.00 
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Overview

The worldwide resurgence of authoritarianism has sparked renewed interest in the Frankfurt School theory of the authoritarian personality, not as a topic of academic debate but as an urgent political factor. Critical Theory and the Authoritarian Personality brings Theodor Adorno’s critique up-to-date in light of new forms of authoritarian politics, recent kinds of authoritarian propaganda and current findings about authoritarian personalities.

Drawing on the work of Slavoj Žižek and the psychoanalysis of Jacques Lacan, this is the first sustained application of psychoanalytic theory to the problem of the authoritarian personality since the classical work of the Frankfurt School. It explores a pressing problem—the resurgence of the radical Right—and proposes new solutions, grounded in the idea of an affective approach to authoritarian politics as something based on transgressive fantasies and political anxieties. Throughout, the book illustrates its theoretical claims with reference to new kinds of authoritarian literature, which today forms an important part of right-wing propaganda.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781399519458
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
Publication date: 01/31/2025
Pages: 254
Product dimensions: 6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.00(d)

About the Author

Geoff M Boucher is an Associate Professor in Literature and Writing at Deakin University.

Table of Contents

Preface & Acknowledgements

Introduction. Adorno Today: The Authoritarian Personality, Rightwing Populism & the Subversion of Democracy
1. QAnon: Dark Fantasy and the Authoritarian Personality
2. The Classical Theory of the Authoritarian Personality
3. A Lacanian Interpretation of the Authoritarian Personality
4. White Pride and the Next Holocaust: The Camp of the Saints
5. Rightwing Survivalism and the Authoritarian Personality
6. Neofascism: The Vortex of Destructiveness
7. Authoritarian Insurgencies: Scenarios for a Second Civil War

Selected Bibliography

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