Narcissism and psychopathy predict left-wing authoritarianism: Study
Jack Elbaum
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It has long been clear that the ideology and mindset of the hyper-woke are quite distinct from mainstream liberals and conservatives. The preoccupation with both guilt and shame, the rituals, the reflexive censoriousness, and the refusal to entertain other points of view are all telltale signs that “woke” — primarily characterized by the desire to tear down existing structures and institutions due to perceived moral corruption, evidenced through disparities between groups — is something more than just another political ideology.
Now, there is research to back this intuition up.
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A new study titled “Understanding left-wing authoritarianism: Relations to the dark personality traits, altruism, and social justice commitment,” explores the psychological component of left-wing “antihierarchical aggression,” or authoritarianism. In particular, “Antihierarchical aggression refers to a specific type of hostility aimed at challenging or opposing hierarchical power structures or authority figures.”
The findings were striking. As explained by PsyPost, “Narcissistic individuals and those with psychopathic tendencies are more likely to strongly endorse left-wing antihierarchical aggression.”
Importantly, there was no relationship between left-wing anti-hierarchical aggression and altruism or social justice commitment.
They go on, writing that these results suggest “that individuals who endorse aggressive actions to overthrow those in power are more likely to exhibit traits of exploiting others for their own gain, lacking empathy, feeling entitled, being arrogant and manipulative, showing reactive anger, distrusting others, and seeking thrill.” In other words, the authors are suggesting that many with this disposition may not be acting out of a genuine desire to do good. They refer to this as the “dark-ego-vehicle principle” — using far-left political activism to “satisfy their own ego-focused needs.”
This makes sense when one considers the emphasis on virtue signaling within many far-left activist circles and also the attitude that the ideas they espouse are a type of enlightened “Truth” given from on high.
While this area of research is yet to be thoroughly explored — meaning there will almost certainly be future research critiquing and improving this study — their findings are consistent with the few other studies that have been conducted. In a 2020 study, for example, two professors at Queensland University of Technology in Australia found that narcissism, Machiavellianism, psychopathy, and entitlement were associated with both “authoritarian political correctness and alt-right attitudes.”
Importantly, these results do not suggest anything about liberals as a group — just as the findings in studies on the alt-right do not suggest anything about conservatives as a group. A distinction must be made between liberals, and even progressives, on the one hand, and the hyper-woke who exhibit “antihierarchical aggression” on the other.
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At the same time, it is important to recognize that the ideas of that latter group are seeping into mainstream society through progressive groups who have a deep ideological commitment to tearing down “power structures” and “systems of oppression.” Consequently, these phrases have become somewhat of an orthodoxy on many college campuses, for example. One of the reasons these ideas are able to make such inroads into the political conversation is that they seem to be coming from a genuinely good place. But that is also precisely what makes them so insidious — particularly in light of these new findings.
The “woke” is in the midst of a long march through each and every one of our institutions in an effort to remake them in their image. This research presents just one more reason why it must be stopped.
Jack Elbaum is a summer 2023 Washington Examiner fellow.