The aim of this study was to investigate the relationships between authoritarianism and the adhesion to values systems. Due to that, Altemeyer's (1981; 1988) Right-wing Authoritarianism Scale and the Psychosocial Value Questionnaire (Pereira, Da Costa & Camino, 2005b) were used. The participants were 284 university students from Goiânia. The results showed that the Authoritarianism Scale was organized in two factors, named authoritarianism and tolerance. The results showed that religious values are negatively correlated to tolerance while hedonist values are positively correlated to this factor. The authoritarianism factor is negatively correlated to hedonist values and positively to materialist values. These results are discussed emphasizing the importance of adopting a psychosocial perspective, taking into account the broader context, in order to analyze political constructs as authoritarianism and democracy.
authoritarianism; psychosocial values; psychosocial perspective
