The authoritarian anthropologies in the different phases of capitalism – elabororations based on Adorno

Abstract

We will discuss how Adorno uses Freudian psychoanalysis to understand the hegemonic modes of socialization of subjects, formulating different authoritarian anthropologies under socioeconomic contexts. If, on the one hand, authoritarianism will currently remain as long as capitalism persists, on the other, there would be different characteristic emphases to be elaborated in different moments of capitalism – according to its monopolistic, welfare state and neoliberal socioeconomic phases. Therefore, we base ourselves on the description of the authoritarian syndrome typologies provided by Adorno, highlighting several traits according to social determinations. If, in the 1940s, Adorno highlighted the adequacy aspects of the authoritarian anthropological type (endowed with a weak ego, externalized superego and unrestrained id), in the 1960s the author reinforced the desire for destruction as a hegemonic characteristic of the authoritarian. Regarding neoliberalism, we find descriptions of reindividualized subjects, endowed with an internalized and super-rigid superego, which leads not only to the “miliciarized” temptation to take “justice into their own hands”, but also to the “side effects” of melancholy and depression due to excessive aggression towards oneself.