Reddit reviews The Politics of Denial

I just got done reading a great book, The Politics of Denial, which discusses a lot of this in detail. The authors provide evidence that even what we would consider "minor" child abuse (spankings, verbal humiliation, etc.) combined with claims that "it's for your own good" and sanctions against expressing anger over such abuse create denied or suppressed rage within children that, is unresolved later in life, is strongly connected to the sort of right-wing or conservative authoritarian politics that Peterson advocates for.

The worst part is that it naturally reproduces itself: children abused in this way are likely to do the same with their own kids as well as repress the angry reaction within them, which is later projected onto the next generation as well as various out-groups.

The most prominent symptoms of such repressed childhood rage against parents are an idolization of authority figures (the researchers note that such individuals will speak in glowing terms about their parents, but when asked about specific circumstances can only usually recall instances of abuse or humiliation), and an especially strong distrust or anger towards out-groups (as repressed anger against parents is redirected or projected towards other targets).

The authors also present strong experimental evidence that this pattern is much more pronounced among men compared to women (likely because girls are taught/allowed to "let out" the anger generated by such abuse through emotions of fear or sadness), which explains both the appeal of this ideology to men especially as well as the massive and growing gender divide in political affiliation.