…..The Authoritarian Personality retains its relevance, and it has assumed a renewed political urgency. Over the last decade, the rise of authoritarian or neofascist political movements, even in the ostensibly enlightened democracies of the capitalist West, has shattered liberal confidence in any triumphalist end to history, and it confronts us with the question as to why fascism has resurfaced with such astonishing force, long after the hour of its apparent defeat. To be sure, nothing returns exactly as it was. The current movements are distinct from those of the mid-twentieth century, not least because what was repressed has come to the surface with the memory of its predecessor: the “new” movements adopt the old slogans or symbols with a certain awareness of quotation, as if they are indulging in a nostalgic reprisal of theatrical forms. The repressed makes its return in the shadow of its own history (p.50, Adorno, 1950, 2019.)
Reference
Adorno, Theodore, et al, Authoritarian personality, Verso Press, London, 2019
This publication was in coordination with the American Jewish Committee, 1950 and a second edition in 2019
Gordon, David 2019, wrote the introduction to this edition.
Art by Kate W 