Revisiting Tomkins’ Polarity Theory: How Humanism and Normativism Shape Political Ideology
According to Silvan Tomkins’ (1963, 1965) Polarity Theory, all ideologies are polarized by a fundamental conflict between Humanism, which idealizes and glorifies humanity, and Normativism, which portrays human beings as inherently worthless and able to attain value only through achievement of external norms. Research has shown that Humanism and Normativism do indeed form two coherent and negativel