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Summary

Young Britons Prefer Autocracy

This is a UK news story, published by Guardian.

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authoritarians
Guardian

Guardian

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Science

Science

Are we hardwired to fall for autocrats?

Guardian
Summary
Nutrition label

77% Informative

More than half of people aged between 13 and 27 would prefer the UK to be an authoritarian dictatorship.

The way we evolved predisposes us to place trust in those who often deserve it least in a sense, hardwiring us to support the most machiavellian among us.

But it’s what we do in the face of that knowledge that matters.

Where we see brute power combined with ignorance, we can throw our support behind knowledge, peaceful protest and education.

And finally, when reigns of terror end and eventually, they always do it is critical to learn and absorb the lessons.

That way, we inoculate ourselves afresh against our natural tendency to trust the untrustworthy.

VR Score

77

Informative language

75

Neutral language

41

Article tone

informal

Language

English

Language complexity

61

Offensive language

possibly offensive

Hate speech

not hateful

Attention-grabbing headline

not detected

Known propaganda techniques

detected

Time-value

long-living

External references

13

https://policies.google.com/privacyhttps://www.bps.org.uk/psychologist/line-between-conformity-and-resistancehttps://www.nature.com/articles/s41599-019-0228-7https://www.guardianbookshop.com/how-democracies-die-9780241381359/?utm_source=editoriallink&utm_medium=merch&utm_campaign=articlehttps://www.guardianbookshop.com/wired-for-culture-9780141031606?utm_source=editoriallink&utm_medium=merch&utm_campaign=articlehttps://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/N/bo3615170.htmlhttps://policies.google.com/termshttps://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29279379/https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2025/04/smithsonian-executive-order-nmaahc/682512/https://www.guardianbookshop.com/autocracy-inc-9780241627891/?utm_source=editoriallink&utm_medium=merch&utm_campaign=articlehttps://www.channel4.com/corporate/about-4/gen-z-trends-truth-and-trusthttps://global.oup.com/academic/product/machiavellian-intelligence-9780198521754?cc=us&lang=en&https://evolutionaryanthropology.duke.edu/sites/evolutionaryanthropology.duke.edu/files/site-images/hare-et-al-2012-self-domestication.original.pdf

Source diversity

10

policies.google.comwww.bps.org.ukwww.nature.comwww.guardianbookshop.compress.uchicago.edupubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.govwww.theatlantic.comwww.channel4.comglobal.oup.comevolutionaryanthropology.duke.edu

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