Tuesday, January 17, 2023



Allowing for Ambiguity in the Social Sciences: Else Frenkel-Brunswik’s methodological practice in "The Authoritarian Personality"

As I have had around a hundred research papers published in the academic journals in this subject area, I suppose I should comment on this rather nauseating bit of hagiography under the above title by Andreas Kranebitter and Fabian Gruber

Frenkel-Brunswik was one of a mid-20th century group of far-Leftist American Jews who loathed the society they lived in and were dedicated to denigrating it. How did they do that? In a nutshell, they portrayed American conservatives as potential Nazis. American Leftists still do that.

The hilarity was that they wrote in 1950, when mainstream Americans had just been instrumental in wiping out the regime of the "National SOCIALIST German Workers party" (the Nazis) and that the "Union of Soviet SOCIALIST Republics" (the USSR) was the big authoritarian threat of the day.

So it was clearly then -- as now -- that socialism that was the big authoritarian beast in real life. It is intrinsic to socialists that they want to tell other people what to do and to rely on coercion if they cannot get their way by voluntary co-operation. If that is not authoritarianism what would be?

So how did Frenkel-Brunswik and her collaborators place the mark of the beast on American conservatives? What had American conservatives done to deserve such denigration?

Basically, nothing. F-B and her colleagues worked up a Freudian theory about what underlay authoritarianism and tried to show that American conservatives displayed the psychological characteristics concerned. There was NO MENTION of socialism as the major source of authoritarianism

They demonstrated their claims in two prime ways, by subjective interviews with educated Californians and by distributing questionnaires that encompassed what the authors thought were authoritarian attitudes.

Amusingly, Pflaum's work showed that their alleged list of "authoritarian" attitudes were simply mainstream American beliefs of the prewar "progressive" era. So their theories did in fact point to progressivism as authoritarian -- not what they intended at all. So their work was a major sociological failure.

But what they showed does coincide with what we know of political history in the first half of the 20th century -- the American "progressive" era. It was an unshamedly racist and antisemitic era. So it is no surprise that F-B et al. found progressive attitudes to be racist

In conclusion, there are two ways that the work of Kranebitter and Gruber is helpful.

1). They showed that the subjective interviews were biased and no proof of anything, which is pretty much what one would have expected

2). They showed that F-B and co, were aware that sociological questions loomed over what they were doing but that they touched on that only very gingerly. Had they given sociology the sort of reverence they gave to dubious Freudian theories they might have discovered something useful.

I give the abstract of the Kranebitter and Gruber paper below and you can read it in full at:

This paper gives a micro-sociological view on the methodology used by Else Frenkel-Brunswik in the famous study "The Authoritarian Personality" (Adorno et al. 1950). A thorough reconstruction of the theoretical and methodological concepts of Else Frenkel-Brunswik eventually allows for a full appreciation of her works from a today’s social research perspective, especially of her role in the field of authoritarianism-research. The paper deals with (i) Else Frenkel-Brunswik’s role in the research team of The Authoritarian Personality, (ii) the way she followed up on her earlier work, (iii) the question of in which ways her parts of the study were object of criticism by the numerous critics of TAP, and (iv) the ways she herself responded to these critics. The material basis for such an approach is the archival material available in the “Archive for the History of Sociology in Austria (AGSO)” in Graz, Austria, which holds parts of the estate of Else Frenkel-Brunswik, most of all her correspondence and unpublished typoscripts of later publications, as well as at the Institute for Jewish Research (YIVO) in New York, which holds the papers of the American Jewish Committee, i.e., draft reports, memoranda, and some interview protocols of the TAP study.


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"Humane" jail is a failure: Violent

The Alexander Maconochie Centre is one of Australia's newest major adult jails and was built to accommodate prisoners from the nation's capital who previously went to NSW jails.

It is located next to a highway about 10 minutes drive from Canberra airport with the dozen or so buildings double-fenced beside a highway in an otherwise windswept open-grassed area.

Named after a prominent 19th century prison reformer, the Centre can lay claim to being 'Australia's wokest prison', the sort of jail Scandinavian countries famously design to break cycles of incarceration rather than punish.

The new jail is the brainchild of former Labor ACT Chief Minister Jon Stanhope, who was forced to defend the cost of the $130million facility which didn't accept its first prisoners until 2009 despite being opened six months earlier in 2008.

Mr Stanhope described the Centre as 'the most human rights-compliant, rehabilitation-focused prison in the world'.

The jail is the first in Australia purpose-built to meet human rights obligations and is also environmentally sustainable using recycled water, solar power and energy efficient insulation.

With such noble aims can come a hefty price tag, in early 2010 it was reported the cost of housing an inmate at the centre was $504 per day, which was twice the amount NSW was charging the ACT to take prisoners.

Sadly the days of rosy hope have largely given way to disappointment, especially for Mr Stanhope who has become one of the jail's harshest critics calling it 'an appalling failure' and 'an embarrassment', which he blames on successive governments.

In 2019 Mr Stanhope lamented that the Productivity Commission had found that the over the last two years the Centre had 'established a reputation as the most violent prison in Australia'.

The more recent Health Prisons Report into the Centre found little evidence of improvement.

'We heard several anecdotal reports of sexual coercion and violence in the AMC,' the report said. 'We have been told that sexual coercion and violence happens but is rarely reported.'

Perhaps most galling for a jail that has the express purpose of rehabilitation are the high rates of reoffending, causing some to label it a 'revolving door' prison with the same cohort of inmates repeatedly entering and leaving.

This is especially so for Indigenous prisoners, which the jail was set up to be culturally appropriate for, with 94 per cent of released Aboriginal detainees ending up back in the cells, according to a recent report.

Mr Powsey said the prison reflects what happens in the comparatively small community of Canberra.

'In the ACT, there are relatively low crimes rates but relatively higher recidivism rates. This means that a significant proportion of the offending occurs within a smaller cohort of people,' he said.

A major failing at the jail, according to the Healthy Prisons Report, was boredom with many inmates having largely unstructured days and sometimes not getting out of bed until lunchtime.

The report was also critical of a lack of meaningful employment activities within the prison.

Almost since its beginning, the prison has been plagued by negative stories including earlier this year when a newly admitted prisoner hanged himself in a supposedly safe cell.

Senior Director Accommodation Jim Taylor-Dayus, who has a 37-year career working in UK, New Zealand and Australian prisons, said incidents were to be expected in a jail environment.

'You've potentially got 400 people who don't want to be here and they need the officers to get things, and sometimes the officer can't do it straight away or they may not be entitled to it – so, of course that causes a frustration,' he said.

'As long as you are able to sit down and say there's a reason you can't have this, whatever it is, most people accept that reason - eventually.

Both CO Veal and Mr Taylor-Dayus worked during the riot in November where 27 detainees refused to go back to their cells, leading to standoff where fires were lit and considerable damage was caused. 'It was intense, we were here for 18 hours,' CO Veal said.

Eventually the situation was resolved through negotiation.

The prevalence of drugs and other contraband, such as mobile phones, has also been an issue highlighted by official reports.

Because of the jail's relative approachability, people have been filmed throwing banned substances over the fences and deliveries have been attempted by drones.

The centre staff admitted that the coming ban on smoking inside, which complies with ACT law, would be a particular challenge.

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Offensive discrimination in hockey event

Apparently, discrimination is OK when Leftists are doing it

The National Hockey League (NHL) has reacted to allegations of discrimination from the office of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis by backtracking on some of the eligibility criteria for a job fair that was meant to be restricted to select minority groups.

A spokesperson for the NHL told The Epoch Times that the event—the Pathway to Hockey Summit—is now open to anyone 18 years of age or older and that the original wording for a LinkedIn announcement for the event was “not accurate.”

The NHL’s post on LinkedIn—which has since been deleted—said that the event was limited to a narrow range of job-seekers from a list of “underrepresented communities.”

“Participants must be 18 years of age or older, based in the U.S., and identify as female, Black, Asian/Pacific Islander, Hispanic/Latino, Indigenous, LGBTQIA+, and/or a person with a disability. Veterans are also welcome and encouraged to attend,” the post stated.

A similar notice is still up on the University of Pennsylvania’s career services page, which describes the event as intended for “diverse job seekers who are pursuing careers in hockey.”

Interested attendees would be given the opportunity to meet with recruiters, with the event featuring guest speakers and panelists, and offer networking opportunities.

But the NHL post drew ire from DeSantis, who has made pushing back on progressive ideologies and policies a cornerstone of his administration.

The governor’s spokesman, Bryan Griffin, said that this type of discriminatory job posting would not be tolerated in Florida and demanded that the NHL “immediately remove and denounce the discriminatory prohibitions it has imposed” on the upcoming summit.

“Discrimination of any sort is not welcome in the state of Florida, and we do not abide by the woke notion that discrimination should be overlooked if applied in a politically popular manner or against a politically unpopular demographic,” Griffin said in a statement.

“We are fighting all discrimination in our schools and our workplaces, and we will fight it in publicly accessible places of meeting or activity,” he added.

The NHL appears to have taken heed of DeSantis’ warning, with a spokesperson for the hockey league telling The Epoch Times in an emailed statement that the “original wording of the LinkedIn post associated with the event was not accurate,” adding that the event is now open to anyone aged 18 and older.

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Politicized law enforcement

Last week brought us new insight into what some are calling a two-tiered justice system. We now know that Joe Biden has unlawfully retained classified documents from his time as Vice President in unsecured locations. A vice president does not have the authority to declassify documents, unlike a president. Furthermore, saying he had boxes of classified documents in his "locked garage" is insidious. Additionally, classified documents were found at the University of Pennsylvania Biden Policy Center, where countless individuals, including Chinese foreign nationals, had access. Of course, this comes on the heels of the FBI raid into Donald Trump's residence, a place where documents were secured, and Secret Service agents were on the grounds. Yet, there has been no discussion of criminal prosecution, as opposed to the case with Trump.

Not too long ago we recall the situation with Hillary Clinton, who not only maintained classified materials on an unsecured server in an unsecured location, but she also destroyed classified documents and government computer hardware and software. If we go a little further back, we remember the classified document incident surrounding Sandy Berger. Again, no prosecution.

Just to give a level of comparison, as a retired Army officer, if I had ever maintained classified documents at my residence, I would be doing time in Ft. Leavenworth.

What is happening in America is not just about a two-tiered system of justice. What we have happening is the emergence of an American Politburo. The term Politburo was introduced to us by the old Soviet Union in 1917. It was the principal policymaking committee of the Communist Party. Today in America, we have a policymaking committee that is making decisions and seeking to rule based upon an elitist ideological agenda, to enact a fundamental transformation of the United States of America. And it was Barack Obama who said just that back in 2008.

Ask yourselves: how can it be that an identifiable domestic terrorist group such as Antifa has had not a single leader arrested, charged, and imprisoned? Why is it that an organization called Jane's Revenge can go about committing arson on pro-life pregnancy centers with no criminal pursuit? Yet, non-leftist groups and organizations can be tracked, and individuals arrested and jailed, such as Proud Boys or Oath Keepers? I have yet to see anyone from these groups burn down communities or violently attack police with laser devices. How can someone like Rep. Cori Bush, who once led violent protests that resulted in property damages and even the loss of life of a law enforcement officer in St. Louis, David Dorn, end up becoming a member of Congress?

In Roanoke, Texas, a venue decided to host a drag queen show where underage children were in attendance. The venue was secured by armed Antifa members, who, by the way, were masked. There was no condemnation of armed individuals protecting a venue that was contributing to the delinquency of minors. The last time I checked, that was a crime. Imagine if armed, not masked, constitutionalists protected a venue where kids were attending a reading of the Declaration of Independence or a patriotic celebration, or heaven forbid a Christian event?

Rep. Scott Perry of Pennsylvania was confronted and presented with a warrant and forced to surrender his cell phone. Yet, Rep. Eric Swalwell of California was a member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence after knowing he had an intimate relationship with a Chinese spy named Fang Fang. Yeah, ya can't make this stuff up.

Dare to challenge the American Politburo? Ask Mesa County (Colorado) Clerk Tina Peters and Sherronna Bishop what happens. The American Politburo dispatches the new American Stasi to raid your home. In Ms. Bishop’s case, the masked agents, when asked why they were doing it, responded "because you connect people."

The new American Politburo is making policies that are destroying our energy independence and oil and gas industry because it is not aligned with the "Green New Deal." The Politburo is proud to announce, as Pete Buttigieg did, that they want to force pain at the pump on the American people forcing them to use mass transportation, or purchase electric vehicles, that most cannot afford. Now, the American Politburo is making policies that tell us how we can cook food in our own homes.

This new American Politburo is not based on political party, but rather on ideology and philosophy of governance. One that believes the government is empowered to rule. It places ideological rights above constitutional rights, which is why this new American Politburo will collude with media elites and corporate fascist elites to censor our free speech and freedom of expression. The American Politburo will pass an unconstitutional omnibus spending measure of some 4,220 pages driving up our debt to an unconscionable $32 trillion.

Yes, we do have an emerging two-tiered system of justice, where the Politburo believes themselves above the rule of law. Along with the belief that they determine who is or is not a criminal by releasing criminals and allowing the mass invasion of millions of illegals. But what is happening in America is the development of an ideologically bifurcated society where rules apply to those below the cutline of cultural, political, media, entertainment, religious, and academic elites. This is the reason the American Politburo decided that a mediocre Black lesbian basketball player was more important than a former US Marine.

The American Politburo must be defeated, and it shall be. The indomitable American spirit is rooted in individual liberty and freedom. We will reject this idea of equity, equality of outcomes, as defined by these elitists who deem themselves our masters, and we the serfs. What we saw the last two weeks in the US House of Representatives, were a few standing up against the American Politburo, they didn't like it, but this was the first skirmish in the war to defeat the Politburo. That was why those 20 were referred to as enemies of the state and terrorists, they threatened the status quo of rule.

Now, it is up to us to carry forth the new torch of liberty that they have ignited.

https://townhall.com/columnists/allenwest/2023/01/16/the-new-american-politburo-n2618319 ?

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My other blogs. Main ones below:

http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)

http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)

http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)

http://australian-politics.blogspot.com (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)

http://snorphty.blogspot.com/ (TONGUE-TIED)

http://jonjayray.com/blogall.html More blogs

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