When do the first signs of the authoritarian syndrome appear? As long as a child is not capable of distinguishing in-group and out-group categories, he does not possess the analytical tools required for social polarisation and authoritarianism is too complex for him. Emotional conflicts in early childhood are therefore “pure,” i.e. non-violent, because devoid of any authoritarian dimension. It is only when newly acquired skills make him able to discern social diversity in his environment that the troubled child finds an egocentric alternative to his frustrations, that of authoritarianism (Tajfel, 1969).