Destructiveness in Contemporary Authoritarianism. Authoritarian Syndromes Revisited in the Context of Digital Media

该项目的目的是提出一个以破坏性为标志的当代形式的权威主义的经验证实的理论。我们认为，在数字媒体的背景下，对专制综合症进行准确的重新评估有三个原因。首先，我们计划在威权主义的经典三管齐下的构成形式——自我服从、侵略性、传统主义——已经改变的背景下，重新确定这些综合症的起源和特征。在德国相关的政治环境和运动中，形成了该项目的经验基础，社会当局受到攻击，自我服从更多地归咎于对立力量。在政治和社会上，破坏性现在起着关键作用；对这一发展所涉及的因素和动态进行社会心理学调查是该项目的关键目标之一。第二，与之前的研究相比，有必要更加关注媒体条件，特别是数字媒体，其特定的传播形式、选择机制和情感螺旋。为此，我们计划对新威权主义和破坏性动力的元素如何通过媒体在内容和形式上传达，数字媒体在生活和危机情况下的功能，以及它们如何成为威权主义的催化剂进行示范性调查。第三，更复杂的概念化对于解决威权主义问题的经典方法和最近的方法都是必不可少的。这里描述的方法植根于社会学社会心理学，也借鉴了精神分析的观点。它基于这样的信念：虽然传记和社会维度确实会产生影响，但它们与社会和媒体条件的复杂互动息息相关，需要更仔细地研究。没有理由在社会条件和家庭关系之间作简单的类比。同样不可能的是，权威型亲子关系的连续性或源于心理倾向的单向度影响。我们需要的是根据数字媒体的使用方式，对性格、社会化和社会背景之间（仍有争议的）关系进行理论和方法上的重新定义。在实际研究方面，该项目将利用扎根理论方法论的经验饱和理论形成特征，分析来自相关背景和论坛的人的叙述性访谈，并进行在线人种志部分研究。该项目与理论形成相结合，其创新之处在于将破坏性作为威权主义的一个强大因素，并将不同层次的研究相互联系起来。

The aim of the project is to propose an empirically substantiated theory of contemporary forms of authoritarianism marked by destructiveness. We believe that there are three reasons for undertaking an accurate reappraisal of authoritarian syndromes in the context of the digital media. First, we plan to re-determine the genesis and the features of these syndromes against the background of the fact that the classical three-pronged constitution of authoritarianism – self-subjection, aggressiveness, conventionalism – has changed its shape. In the relevant political milieus and movements in Germany, that form the empirical basis of the project, societal authorities are attacked and self-subjection ascribed more often to opposing forces. Politically and socially, destructiveness now plays a key role; socio-psychological investigation of the factors and dynamics involved in this development are one of the crucial objectives of the project. Second, over and against earlier studies, it is necessary to pay closer attention to the media conditions, particularly the digital media with their specific communication forms, selection mechanisms and affective spirals. To this end, we are planning exemplary investigations of the way in which elements of the new authoritarianism and of destructive dynamics are conveyed via the media, both in content and form, the functions performed by digital media in life- and crisis-situations, and how they function as catalysts for authoritarianism. Third, more sophisticated conceptualisation is essential in relation both to classical and to more recent approaches to the problem of authoritarianism. The approach described here is rooted in sociological social psychology and also draws upon psychoanalytic perspectives. It proceeds on the conviction that, while biographical and socialisational dimensions do indeed have an effect, they are bound up in complex interactions with social and media conditions that need to be examined more closely. There is no reason to assume simple analogies between social conditions on the one hand and the complexion of familial relations on the other. Equally unlikely are continuity in authoritarian parent-child relations or one-dimensional effects stemming from psychic dispositions. What we need is a theoretical and methodical re-conception of the (still controversial) relation between disposition, socialisation and societal contexts in the light of the way the digital media are used. In practical research terms, the project will draw upon the empirically saturated theory formation characteristic of Grounded Theory methodology both to analyse narrative interviews with persons from the relevant contexts and forums and also to conduct an online-ethnographic part-study. The project is geared to theory formation, its innovative features lie in the focus on destructiveness as a powerful element of authoritarianism and in the way in which the various levels of investigation are linked with one another.