Document Type : Research Paper
Author
Assistant Professor, Department of Political Sciences, Imam Khomeini International University, Qazvin, Iran.
Abstract
Introduction
Thinking about the formation, contexts, and contexts of an authoritarian state has a deep history in political thought. However, the history of studies related to the connection and link between this model of political systems and psychology dates back to the twentieth century and after the formation of non-democratic governments in Western Europe. Among the people who tried to explain the phenomenon of an authoritarian state using psychology was Manes Sperber, who was strongly influenced by Adler's teachings on individual psychology in his psychological studies and research and used his central concepts in the political psychology of an authoritarian state. Sperber, who was initially an ardent supporter of the Stalinist state, turned away from it after the terrible events and assassinations of the Stalinist state in the 1930s and wrote several works on the subject of how an authoritarian state is formed in countries.
Research objective and Methods
The aim of this article is to understand the dimensions of the political psychology of an authoritarian state according to Sperber's views and perspectives. The main question of this article is how and on what basis do autocratic states form in the thought of Manes Sperber, and what psychological characteristics do the autocratic leader and the society hosting this type of state have?
Results and Discussion
To answer this question, Sperber's famous book entitled "The Psychological Investigation of Autocratism" was examined and analyzed. According to the data, Manes Sperber went through two main stages in his life. In the first stage of his life, considering the developments in European societies and his spirit of seeking justice, he had a positive and favorable view of socialism and the Soviet Union. At this stage, he was busy producing content, literature, and statements on this subject. However, from the mid-1930s, he fundamentally changed his thinking and approach and became a critic of the Soviet Union and Stalin's policies. Sperber's perspective and analysis was a new scientific field called "political psychology." This scientific branch was a new and interdisciplinary field of social science that aimed to analyze the political behaviors of leaders, political figures, groups, and individuals, and ultimately led to providing a picture of understanding and comprehending the political behaviors of leaders and the masses. The findings show that in Sperber's political psychology, autocratic states can only be realized and actualized under two basic events and preconditions - one is the existence of an individual with the conditions for autocratic rule and the other is the existence of a mass and disintegrated society. Manes Sperber analyzed the authoritarian state using Adler's individual psychology approach.
According to Adler's theory, people who are defective, whether physical or mental, suffer from an inferiority complex, and this feeling of inferiority causes them to seek compensation in the future, and as a result, the second sense, which is superiority, comes into play. These people are the ones who, in Sperber's political psychology, have the background and preparation for dictatorship and can be autocratic leaders. However, as Manes Sperber says, the existence of these people in society does not in itself lead to the formation of an autocratic government. It is possible that many of these people are present in different societies, but they only act from power under conditions where the economic, social, and political conditions give them such an opportunity and the basis for its acceptance by the people is prepared. Therefore, not all people in society can or do not have the conditions to reach the position of autocratic leadership. Another requirement for the formation of an autocratic government in Sperber's thought is a mass and fragmented society. A society in which people have no dependence or solidarity with each other and has become an atomized society in a way.
Conclusion
According to Sperber's thought, they are large groups of selfish people whose selfishness is picked up by the autocratic person and arouses their emotions. These people are the same people who, according to Adler's individual psychology, have a feeling of inferiority due to various disabilities and have a sense of hatred for life. In the feeling of hatred for this life, the desire to destroy and annihilate the people who played a role in creating this kind of life is formed. The people of this society are looking for compensation for their past; to compensate for the past, they are looking for a good and dreamy future; but according to Sperber's analysis, they cannot compensate for their past alone and practically no one is able to change them alone. Such people know that they are not able to change their fate and compensate for their past lives alone and if there is to be a change, this change requires special and different people. This particular person is the autocratic leader.
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