Right-Wing Authoritarianism Among White South African Students: Its Measurement and Correlates

The psychometric properties and correlates of the Right-Wing Authoritarianism Scale (RWA Scale; Altemeyer, 1981) were investigated using a sample of White South African students (N = 217). Traditional measures of authoritarianism have performed particularly badly in such settings. The RWA scale was factorially unidimensional and highly reliable, and correlated powerfully with validity criteria of authoritarianism, such as civil liberties stance, anti-Black prejudice and discrimination, liberalism/conservatism, and acceptance of parental religious beliefs. The particularly strong correlation with anti-Black prejudice contradicted influential previous findings suggesting that this correlation would be very weak in settings where racism was widespread or normative.