To keep it short the reason why some people are ok with authoritarianism is because most structures that we deal with on a daily basis are authoritarian.
Here is evidence that shows a significant amount of people are ok with authoritarianism:
This should be concerning.
And the thing is that it makes sense once you look at what are the most common systems that people interact with the most.
A clear example would be the Boss-Worker relationship. The boss creates a set of objectives/tasks for the worker and the worker sees them out. Rarely does the worker get the chance to set the higher level direction of what they are supposed to be doing with their time leaving them obedient to the boss and their demands.
Another example would be some Parent-Child relationships. Some parents treat their children as people that should show absolute respect towards them just because they are the parents not because they have something that is of value to the child (experience).
Even in the places where we do make democratic decisions those are usually made in ways that are supposed to be supplemental to authoritative decision making. An example would be how we don’t vote on decisions but instead how we vote on others to make decisions for us.
Once you add up all the experiences that someone has throughout their whole life you will see that most of them come into direct contact with authoritarian systems which means it makes that kind of way of thinking familiar and therefore acceptable.
Unlike democracy which is an abstract concept and something we only really experience from time to time.
If we want people to actually stop thinking authoritarianism is ok then we as a society are gonna have to stop using these kinds of systems / ways of thinking in our daily lives.
In my experience, the people who crave authoritarianism the most appear to understand it the least. This is both a cause and an effect of the authoritarian executive system when put into practice.
Most authoritarians struggle mightily to explain the rationale behind their own choices, even incredibly simple ones. They also display a genuine aversion to the very process of evidence-based critical thinking.
Thus the allure of authoritarianism is in justifying the release of it’s agents from the burdensome task of real, responsible decision-making. It’s not hard to understand when you consider how overwhelming the decision fatigue must be for those described above.
I think we need to add the consideration, that representative systems put the blame on people, when in fact their actual influence is extremely limited.
Oh you voted for party xy? Then it is your fault that they fucked the people over again. But come next election all the media and political propaganda is telling you how that is the only acceptable party and the other ones are all evil…
Oh you took on the student debt to take the education that you were told by all mainstream voices to be necessary for you to have a decent live, but the cost of living and your debt eat up a lot of your middle class income? Well how were you personally so stupid to do what society told everyone to do. It is all your personal fault!
We life in a capitalist oligarchic society that structurally takes away peoples participation opportunities and their freedoms while claiming to give them all the freedoms and blaming every result of an entrenched system on the individual.
I disagree with the claim that the people who prefer authoritative systems always lack critical thinking. If the actual influence you have is almost zero, alleviating yourself from the blame that is put onto you is perfectly rational.
Plus something about authoritarians that few realize. Many don’t want to be the dictator. They just want the man in charge to be in charge. Debate is weakness, it’s slow, and shows doubt. Democracy is just a means to an end.