Relationships among Three Concepts of Authoritarianism in Adolescent Schoolchildren

Abstract

Classical authoritarianism has been proposed (Phillips, 1979b) as a central concept underlying all social attitudes. It has been associated with respectful attitudes to conventional authority and a desire to dominate others. Schoolchildren (= 117) attending high schools in Adelaide, Australia, completed measures of classical authoritarianism (Phillips, 1979a); directiveness, modified from Ray (1976); and attitudes toward institutional authority, adapted from Rigby and Rump (1981). Contrary to the proposal, intercorrelations between pairs of measures were small, with correlations significant for one sex only. It was concluded that the concept of classical authoritarianism has limited relevance to the social attitudes of children and that attitudes toward authority and the desire to dominate others are largely independent.