[supreme_sublime]

I definitely think it looks like a bit of a mixture of both. From what I remember in reading Brave New World, the focus wasn't so much on the authoritarian tendencies of the government itself. The government was authoritarian in the sense that it determined what people would be like through genetic engineering but seemed to basically leave them alone otherwise. Since they were perfectly suited for the tasks that their caste was bred for. Including being perfectly happy in them. For instance the "Betas" didn't want to be "Alphas", and in their mind it was certainly a lot better than being an "Epsilon". They didn't mind being in a lower caste because they didn't think they could handle the responsibilities of being an "Alpha". It is kind of interesting that most of the book deals with the world of the top rung of society and kind of glosses over the world of the lower castes.

Really though we don't need to go to fiction to see what is happening in society. We just need to go to Ancient Rome. "Bread and circuses" was a tactic used by the patricians (elites) to keep the plebeians (masses) appeased. Give people a minimum standard of living so they can continue to live, and distract them from injustices and corruption through entertainment.