The Authoritarians
The Authoritarians by Bob Altemeyerby Bob Altemeyer
Shares rank 4 of 9 psychology books by recommenders
People recommend it as an introduction to authoritarian personality research, and a free online ebook of it is available.
People recommend it as an introduction to authoritarian personality research, and a free online ebook of it is available.
3 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 3
- criticize it
- 0
- approval share
- 100%
Recommended in 2 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 3 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- Nobody criticizes itNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 2 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, not met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Free online ebook available
“There's a free ebook from 2006 that tries to dive into it as a personality spectrum”
Comment from 26 Mar 2026 in “Miscellanea: The War in Iran” “Please go read https://theauthoritarians.org/”
Comment from 20 Jan 2026 in “US Places Arctic Airborne Troops on Standby as Greenland Dispute Escalates” Recommended for learning about authoritarianism
“Anyone interested in learning more about this should read”
Comment from 21 Jan 2026 in “Meta's Legal Team Abandoned Its Ethical Duties” “Please go read https://theauthoritarians.org/”
Comment from 20 Jan 2026 in “US Places Arctic Airborne Troops on Standby as Greenland Dispute Escalates”
Other psychology books people recommend
The four most recommended other psychology books, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Courage to Be Dislikedby Ichiro Kishimi | 7 | 0 | 100% | 7 | — | — |
| Influenceby Robert Cialdini | 7 | 1 | 88% | 5 | — | — |
| The Inner Game of Tennisby W. Timothy Gallwey | 4 | 0 | 100% | 2 | — | — |
| The Authoritariansby Bob AltemeyerThis page | 3 | 0 | 100% | 2 | — | — |
| The Happiness Hypothesisby Jonathan Haidt | 3 | 0 | 100% | 3 | — | — |
What people said
All 5 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“There's a free ebook from 2006 that tries to dive into it as a personality spectrum”
“it seems to be a good summary of what I'm thinking”
“This fits nicely in my Kobo curriculum.”
“Anyone interested in learning more about this should read”
“Please go read https://theauthoritarians.org/”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.