Why authoritarian ideologies flourish during social and moral collapse
Periods of crisis change what feels convincing.
Ideas that once seemed extreme begin to sound practical. Stories that once felt outdated return with urgency. People who once tolerated complexity start craving certainty.
This shift is not accidental. It follows a pattern.
Decay Creates Opportunity
In natural ecosystems, decay is not just an ending. It is a transformation. When old structures break down, new organisms rush in to feed on what remains. Fungi are especially good at this. They thrive where stability has collapsed.
Cultural systems behave similarly.
When social trust erodes, when moral language fractures, and when institutions lose credibility, the conditions change. Not all ideas survive in this environment. Some wither. Others flourish.
Authoritarian myths are among the most resilient.
What Crisis Takes Away
Large-scale crises strip away more than material security. They remove shared reference points.
People lose:
- confidence in institutions
- faith in fairness
- belief in predictable futures
- a common moral vocabulary
What remains is uncertainty. And uncertainty is uncomfortable.
Political theorist Hannah Arendt observed that totalitarian movements gain traction when people feel unmoored from reality and meaning. When nothing feels trustworthy, the promise of order becomes intoxicating.
Why Authoritarian Myths Feel So Appealing
Authoritarian ideologies do not succeed because they are nuanced. They succeed because they are simple.
They offer:
- clear enemies
- absolute answers
- rigid hierarchies
- moral certainty without deliberation
In moments of fear, clarity often matters more than truth.
Social psychologist Erich Fromm described this attraction as an escape from freedom. When responsibility feels overwhelming, surrendering agency can feel like relief.
Stress Narrows the Mind
Crisis is not just social. It is biological.
Neuroscientist Robert M. Sapolsky shows that chronic stress reduces cognitive flexibility and increases preference for hierarchy and authority. Under threat, humans seek strong leaders and clear rules.
This helps explain why authoritarian movements surge during instability. They align perfectly with the nervous system’s demand for safety.
When Morality Collapses, Myth Steps In
In stable societies, ethical reasoning is slow, contested, and often frustrating. During collapse, it feels insufficient.
Sociologist Zygmunt Bauman argued that moral uncertainty drives people to seek solid ground. Authoritarian myths provide it by replacing ethics with loyalty.
Right and wrong become less about action and more about affiliation.
The Seduction of the Sacred Past
Many crisis myths look backward. They promise restoration rather than adaptation.
Philosopher Umberto Eco identified nostalgia as a core feature of authoritarian storytelling. A mythic past is invoked to justify present control. Complexity is framed as decay. Difference becomes betrayal.
The story is always the same: we were once whole, and someone ruined it.
Understanding Without Excusing
It is important to say this plainly.
People drawn to authoritarian myths are not stupid, evil, or uniquely broken. They are responding to fear, loss, and instability.
But understanding conditions does not mean ignoring consequences.
Authoritarian myths may feel stabilizing, but they feed on decay without restoring health. They consume trust without rebuilding it.
Decay Is a Choice Point
Decay does not determine what comes next. It creates an opening.
Some systems use breakdown to justify domination. Others use it to imagine renewal. What grows depends on what is cultivated — and what is left unexamined.
A Practice for This Week
Notice a story that becomes louder during moments of fear or uncertainty.
Ask yourself, gently:
What does this story promise to protect — and what does it ask me to give up in return?
No answers required.
Awareness changes the soil.
Influenced by
Arendt, Hannah. The Origins of Totalitarianism. Harcourt, Brace & Company, 1951.
Bauman, Zygmunt. Liquid Modernity. Polity Press, 2000.
Eco, Umberto. Ur-Fascism. New York Review of Books, 1995.
Fromm, Erich. Escape from Freedom. Farrar & Rinehart, 1941.
Sapolsky, Robert M. Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst. Penguin Press, 2017.
Next week: Antifungals of Light — Truth as Exposure Therapy