Authoritarian personalities and social capitals in contemporary Japanese society : What types of social capital are associated with high or low authoritarian personalities?

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The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between social capital and authoritarian personalities in contemporary Japan. Previous researchers have identifi ed factors such as education, occupation, and family as influencing authoritarian personalities, but research on the relationship with social capital remains limited. Therefore, for this paper, the author uses nationwide survey data and conducts multivariate analysis (factor analysis, multiple regression analysis, and mediation analysis) to examine the relationships between two types of social capital—bonding and bridging—and authoritarian personalities. The results confi rm that having more close acquaintances is negatively associated with authoritarian personalities, while greater neighborhood cohesion, general trust, and particular trust are positively associated with authoritarian personalities. Furthermore, mediation analysis is conducted to examine the indirect eff ect of general trust on authoritarian personalities through competition anxiety and reveals that general trust has a negative indirect eff ect. This paper’s fi ndings demonstrate that individuals with more bonding social capital tend to have stronger authoritarian personalities. Particularly in the case of bridging social capital, having more close acquaintances weakens authoritarian personalities, but more general trust strengthen authoritarian personalities, indicating diversity in the relationship between bridging social capital and authoritarian personalities. In addition, the study confi rms the relationships among competition anxiety, general trust, and authoritarian personalities: Competition anxiety decreases general trust, which in turn reduces authoritarian personalities. This provides insights into the tripartite relationship in Japan.