Speculations on Authoritarianism and Narcissism as Political Concepts

Abstract

I distinguish between pre-feudal societies (what Max Weber calls patrimonial societies) where social loyalties have evolved out of those of the extended family, feudal societies - social groupings that eventually outgrow familial loyalties (the king becomes more than just father to his people), and post-feudal societies that are characteristic of the modern world.   Different kinds of societies have different mixtures of regulatory principles that when coordinated produce different balances between individual freedom and social justice. I discuss these regulatory principles and relate them to ideas on culture and personality that relate the differing means of regulating social order with their effects on the development of corresponding personality structures, particularly authoritarian and narcissistic personalities. Among other things, I relate these differing methods of regulating societies and producing social order to the development of nationalism as a modern method for producing social solidarity, and discuss some of the consequences.