Kontraŭaŭtoritatismo estas opozicio al aŭtoritatismo (aŭ eĉ al absolutismo), kiu estas difinita kiel "formo de socia organizo karakterizita per submetado al aŭtoritato",[1] "preferante kompletan obeemon aŭ submetiĝon al aŭtoritato kontraste al individua libereco"[2] kaj al aŭtoritatema regado.[3] Kontraŭ-aŭtoritatismaj kutime kredas je plena egaleco antaŭ la leĝo kaj fortaj burĝaj liberecoj. Foje la esprimo estas uzita interŝanĝeble kun anarkiismo, ideologio kiu inkluzivas kontraŭbataladon de aŭtoritato aŭ hierarkia organizo en la konduto de homaj rilatoj, sed ne limigita, al la lukto kontraŭ la ŝtata sistemo.[4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11]
Roget’s II: The New Thesaurus (1995) authoritarianism. Houghton Mifflin Company. Arkivita el la originalo je 2008-06-24. Alirita 2008-06-25 .
IAF Principles. International of Anarchist Federations. Arkivita el la originalo je 2012-01-05. Alirita 2014-09-13 . “La IAF-IFA batalas por: la forigo de ĉiuj formoj de aŭtoritato, ĉu ekonomia, politika, socia, religia, kultura aŭ seksa.”.
Arkivita kopio. Arkivita el la originalo je 2012-01-05. Alirita 2014-09-13 .
"Authority is defined in terms of the right to exercise social control (as explored in the "sociology of power") and the correlative duty to obey (as explored in the "philosophy of practical reason"). Anarchism is distinguished, philosophically, by its scepticism towards such moral relations-by its questioning of the claims made for such normative power- and, practically, by its challenge to those "authoritative" powers which cannot justify their claims and which are therefore deemed illegitimate or without moral foundation."Anarchism and Authority: A Philosophical Introduction to Classical Anarchism by Paul McLaughlin. AshGate. 2007. pg. 1
"Anarchism, then, really stands for the liberation of the human mind from the dominion of religion; the liberation of the human body from the dominion of property; liberation from the shackles and restraint of government. Anarchism stands for a social order based on the free grouping of individuals for the purpose of producing real social wealth; an order that will guarantee to every human being free access to the earth and full enjoyment of the necessities of life, according to individual desires, tastes, and inclinations." Emma Goldman. "What it Really Stands for Anarchy" en Anarchism and Other Essays.
Individuisma anarkiisto Benjamin Tucker difinis anarkismon kiel opozicion al aŭtoritato jene "They found that they must turn either to the right or to the left, — follow either the path of Authority or the path of Liberty. Marx went one way; Warren and Proudhon the other. Thus were born State Socialism and Anarchism ... Authority, takes many shapes, but, broadly speaking, her enemies divide themselves into three classes: first, those who abhor her both as a means and as an end of progress, opposing her openly, avowedly, sincerely, consistently, universally; second, those who profess to believe in her as a means of progress, but who accept her only so far as they think she will subserve their own selfish interests, denying her and her blessings to the rest of the world; third, those who distrust her as a means of progress, believing in her only as an end to be obtained by first trampling upon, violating, and outraging her. These three phases of opposition to Liberty are met in almost every sphere of thought and human activity. Good representatives of the first are seen in the Catholic Church and the Russian autocracy; of the second, in the Protestant Church and the Manchester school of politics and political economy; of the third, in the atheism of Gambetta and the socialism of Karl Marx." Benjamin Tucker. Individual Liberty.
Anarkiista historiisto George Woodcock priskribas la kontraŭaŭtoritatismon de Miĥail Bakunin kaj montras opozicion kaj al ŝtataj kaj al ne-ŝtataj formoj de aŭtoritato jene: "All anarchists deny authority; many of them fight against it." (p. 9) ... "Bakunin did not convert the League's central committee to his full program, but he did persuade them to accept a remarkably radical recommendation to the Berne Congress of September 1868, demanding economic equality and implicitly attacking authority in both Church and State."
Brown, L. Susan. (2002) “Anarchism as a Political Philosophy of Existential Individualism: Implications for Feminism”, The Politics of Individualism: Liberalism, Liberal Feminism and Anarchism. Black Rose Books Ltd. Publishing, p. 106.