Evaluate the reading titled ‘The Rise of American Authoritarianism’. What are your initial thoughts about the theoretical logic and measurement of this concept? Should we consider authoritarianism to be an individual, dispositional trait or a contextual factor influenced by the situation? Why?
Throughout the article there are various graphics that break down public opinion data from 2016. Did anything in these graphics strike you as particularly important, relevant, odd, or contradictory?
Finally, what are the implications of this research for the future of the Democratic and Republican Parties? In what ways do you see authoritarianism playing out in the current 2024 presidential primary campaigns and in the General Election later this year?