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NL888 Posted 14 years ago
Grammar

What does "authoritarian sympton" mean?

Context:
Selectivity
Extreme violence in individuals results from the interaction between psychological
disorders and authoritarian symptoms, as we have already seen. Eugen Kogon, who
spent several years in detention in Nazi camps, made in 1947 the following distinction:
“The men who volunteered for Hitler’s elite guards were almost without exception of a
type in whom a primitive psychological mechanism was at work. Their minds were
enclosed by a hard shell consisting of a few sharply fixed, dogmatic, simplified concepts,
underneath which lurked a flood of inchoate emotionalism. The only form of
soul-searching to which they submitted amounted to no more than a checkup as to
whether the direction of their emotions actually corresponded to the prescribed SS
goals.” ( Kogon, 2006 , p. 283).
This excerpt shows with clarity the crux, and maybe even the secret, of extreme violence:
selectivity, which shapes the link between an aggressor’s psychological disturbances and
his authoritarian symptoms. The perpetrator of extreme violence structures his mind in
such a way that his “flood of inchoate emotionalism” is released in violent outbursts,
following pre-determined directions. Because the violence is carefully targeted at
selected victims, the aggressor protects himself from his authoritarian symptoms, whilst
at the same time keeping a stable, empathic relationship with the part of reality which is
preserved from his attacks. He thus becomes a functional paranoiac , as FBI agent John
Douglas put it ( Douglas and Olshaker, 1999).
  

Top answer

Hi I don't think the phrase "authoritarian symptoms" is common in English at all The word "authoritarian" means liking the idea of one person having power over another - where the power seems to come from the person's character or from the position that the person has in society Symptoms are a sign of disease So the phrase suggests that a person can become diseased because they like the idea of one person having authority over another: they like making others obey; or they like being made to obey I think that's the best I can do. As said, it is not a common English phrase Dave

  • Hi I don't think the phrase "authoritarian symptoms" is common in English at all The word "authoritarian" means liking the idea of one person having power over another - where the power seems to come from the person's character or from the position that the person has in society Symptoms are a sign of disease So the phrase suggests that a person can become diseased because they like the idea of one person having authority over another: they like making others obey; or they like being made to obey I think that's the best I can do.
  • As said, it is not a common English phrase Dave
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1 Answers
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Hi

I don't think the phrase "authoritarian symptoms" is common in English at all

The word "authoritarian" means liking the idea of one person having power over another - where the power seems to come from the person's character or from the position that the person has in society

Symptoms are a sign of disease

So the phrase suggests that a person can become disea

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