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What Happens When Authoritarians Inherit the Earth? A Simulation
Author(s) -
Altemeyer Bob
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
analyses of social issues and public policy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.479
H-Index - 31
eISSN - 1530-2415
pISSN - 1529-7489
DOI - 10.1111/j.1530-2415.2003.00020.x
Subject(s) - authoritarianism , futures contract , famine , unemployment , psychology , history , political science , social psychology , criminology , law , economics , politics , financial economics , democracy , economic growth
Two runs of a futuristic simulation involving introductory psychology students were held on successive nights. On one night, “Earth” was populated entirely by right‐wing authoritarian followers; on the second night, a small number of dominating authoritarians were included among a second group of authoritarian followers. With a few notable exceptions (e.g., nuclear war did not break out), the future evolved as anticipated on the two evenings. In general, authoritarians produced dismal futures, beset by unemployment, famine, and disease.