A lot of people on the left seem to hold The Authoritarian Personality by Adorno et al. and The Mass Psychology of Fascism by Reich in very high regard.
These are very old books. The Adorno book has been criticised for methodological reasons. The Reich book is very rooted in Freudian psychoanalysis. Yet they still seem to be widely read and discussed.
I am not a psychologist. Can psychologists please tell me if these works are still considered to be useful and supported by the available evidence? I feel awfully skeptical when someone backs their point up by citing them and I want to know whether I should unclench my arse.
Thank you :)
in Germany at least, there has been a huge shift in academic psychology from being a more or less liberal arts (Geisteswissenschaften?) subject to becoming much more grounded in the natural sciences (read: biology, neurosciences, medicine, experiments, statistics). thus, when i did my degree Reich was only mentioned in history of psychology courses, Adorno not all. my understanding is that Freud et al are still discussed in liberal arts subjects
Freud getting praised by everyone but actual psychologists always baffled me. Imagine if politicos started backing up their points with references to luminiferous ether.