Abstract

MARASCA, María Micaela; MARASCA, Roxana  and  IMHOFF, Débora. Authoritarianism's inquiry in childhood: Correlations with social dominance orientation and values in boys and girls from Córdoba City (Argentina). Interdisciplinaria [online]. 2013, vol.30, n.1, pp.139-161. ISSN 1668-7027.

This research, developed in the field of Political Psychology, aims to contribute to the understanding of authoritarian attitudes in during childhood, focusing on the relationships with other psychosocial and psycho-political variables such as social values and social dominance orientation. It's important to study the authoritarianism nowadays, due to the fact that it would obstruct the progress to a new political and economic model that allows the human development and the citizen's participation and involvement, favouring solidarity bonds and social identity (Zaiter, 2002). Thus, the scientific approach of this phenomenon makes its understanding possible and would give tools that can be used for the strengthening of democracy and the acquisition of values and democratic attitudes. Additionally, it's relevant to study the authoritarian attitudes in childhood owing to the fact that is an area of vacancy in the authoritarianism's field because most of the investigations study the authoritarianism in adults or teenagers. The research aims to analyze the relationships between the authoritarianism's level, the social dominance orientation's level and social values in children's population. This inquiry is a co-relational study in which the sample was selected using a non-random accidental sampling of 280 children from Córdoba city, male and female, from 9 to 11years old. The sample consists of 52.3% of girls and a 47.7% of boys, whereas in relation to the age distribution, there are 27.7% of 9 year old children, 32.6 % of 10 year old and 39.8% of 11 year old. The questionnaire was composed of three scales which inquiry into the variables involved and was applied with a previous parents' and head teachers' consent. These scales were: The adaptation of Altemeyer's (2006) Right-Wing Authoritarianism (RWA) Scale to children from Córdoba city by Imhoff and Brussino (2011a); the adaptation of Sidanius and Pratto's (1999) Social Dominance Orientation (SDO) Scale to children's population from Córdoba city by Imhoff and Brussino (2012), and the adaptation of Schwartz and Rubel-Lifschitz's (2009) Portrait Values Questionnaire (PVQ) to children's population from Córdoba city by Imhoff and Brussino (2011b). In addition, socio-demographic variables such as sex and age were asked. Furthermore, the questionnaires were administered orally and individually to each child. Afterwards, univariate and bivariate analysis were performed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). Regarding the results, unvaried analysis showed a higher level of Authoritarian submission than Authoritarian aggression. In relation to social dominance orientation, high scores in Opposition to equality were obtained and a homogeneous distribution in the level of Group based-dominance. Meanwhile, concerning to the children's valorative preference, high scores were found in Self-enhancement, low scores in Self-transcendence and regarding to Conservation and Openness to change, significant differences were not found between high and low levels. Concerning the relationships between the variables, results confirmed a positive relation between Authoritarian aggression with Group based-dominance; between authoritarianism (both dimensions Authoritarian aggression and Authoritarian submission) and group based-dominance with Conservation; and between group based-dominance with Self-enhancement. Moreover, results also demonstrated a negative relationship between Opposition to equality with Openness to change and Self-transcendence; and between Groups based- dominance with Self-transcendence. On the other hand, results revealed a negative relationship between Authoritarian submission with Opposition to equality and Openness to change; and also between Opposition to equality with Conservation values. According to these results, the peculiarities that acquire this articulation are discussed in order to contribute to the understanding of authoritarian attitudes in childhood. Due to the fact that is a crucial stage for the acquisition of attitudes that impact directly in political and social behaviour (Huerta, Bañuelos, Rodríguez, Luz & Gómez, 2006).

Keywords : Authoritarianism; Social values; Social dominance orientation; Children; Political Psychology.

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