10/3/2017 The Mass Psychology of Fascism - Wikipedia The Mass Psychology of Fascism From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Mass Psychology of Fascism[4] (German: Die Massenpsychologie des Faschismus) is a 1933 book by , in which the author explores The Mass Psychology of how fascists come into power, and explains their rise as a symptom of sexual Fascism repression.

Contents

1 Background 2 Summary 3 Banning 4 The authoritarian family as the first cell of the fascist society 5 See also 6 References

Background

Reich—originally from Galicia in the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Cover of the German edition practicing and psychiatry in Vienna—joined the Social Author Wilhelm Reich Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ) in 1928. He joined the Communist Party of Original title Die Massenpsychologie Germany (KPD) upon moving his psychoanalytic practice to Berlin in 1930. However, The Mass Psychology of Fascism was seen as being so critical of the des Faschismus Nazi regime (as well as the Communist regime in the Soviet Union) that Reich Language German was considered to be a liability to the KPD and was kicked out of the party Subject Fascism upon the book's publication in 1933. Publisher Farrar, Straus and Summary Giroux Publication September 1933 date The question at the heart of Reich's book was this: why did the masses turn to [1] [5] Published in November 1980 authoritarianism even though it is clearly against their interests? Reich set English out to analyze "the economic and ideological structure of German society (translation based on the between 1928 and 1933" in this book.[6] In it, he calls Bolshevism "red third, enlarged edition [2][3] fascism", and groups it in the same category as Nazism. from August 1942) ISBN 978-0-374-50884-5 Reich argued that the reason Nazism was chosen over communism was sexual repression. As children, members of the proletariat had learned from their OCLC 411193197 (https://ww parents to suppress sexual desire. Hence, in adults, rebellious and sexual w.worldcat.org/oclc/411 impulses caused anxiety. Fear of revolt, as well as fear of sexuality, were thus 193197) "anchored" in the character of the masses. This influenced the irrationality of the people, Reich would argue:[5]

Suppression of the natural sexuality in the child, particularly of its genital sexuality, makes the child apprehensive, shy, obedient, afraid of authority, good and adjusted in the authoritarian sense; it paralyzes the rebellious forces because any rebellion is laden with anxiety; it produces, by inhibiting sexual curiosity and sexual thinking in the child, a general inhibition of thinking and of critical faculties. In brief, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mass_Psychology_of_Fascism 1/3 10/3/2017 The Mass Psychology of Fascism - Wikipedia the goal of sexual suppression is that of producing an individual who is adjusted to the authoritarian order and who will submit to it in spite of all misery and degradation. At first the child has to submit to the structure of the authoritarian miniature state, the family; this makes it capable of later subordination to the general authoritarian system. The formation of the authoritarian structure takes place through the anchoring of sexual inhibition and anxiety.[5]

Reich noted that the symbolism of the swastika, evoking the fantasy of the primal scene, showed in spectacular fashion how Nazism systematically manipulated the unconscious. A repressive family, a baneful religion, a sadistic educational system, the terrorism of the party, and economic violence all operated in and through individuals' unconscious psychology of emotions, traumatic experiences, fantasies, libidinal economies, and so on, and Nazi political ideology and practice exacerbated and exploited these tendencies.[6]

For Reich, fighting fascism meant first of all studying it scientifically, which was to say, using the methods of psychoanalysis. He believed that reason—alone able to check the forces of irrationality and loosen the grip of mysticism—is also capable of playing its own part in developing original modes of political action, building on a deep respect for life, and promoting a harmonious channeling of and orgastic potency. Reich proposed "work democracy", a self-managing form of social organization that would preserve the individual's freedom, independence, and responsibility and base itself on them.[6]

Banning

As a result of writing the book, Reich was kicked out of the Communist Party of Germany. The book was banned by the Nazis when they came to power. He realized he was in danger and hurriedly left Germany disguised as a tourist on a ski trip to Austria. Reich was expelled from the International Psychoanalytical Association in 1934 for political militancy.[7] The book was ordered to be burned on request of the FDA by a judge in Maine, United States in 1956, amongst other works by Reich.[8]

The authoritarian family as the first cell of the fascist society

Chapter V contains the famous statement that the family is the first cell of the fascist society:[9]

From the standpoint of social development, the family cannot be considered the basis of the “ authoritarian state, only as one of the most important institutions which support it. It is, however, its central reactionary germ cell, the most important place of reproduction of the reactionary and conservative individual. Being itself caused by the authoritarian system, the family becomes the most important institution for its conservation. In this connection, the findings of Morgan and of Engels are still entirely correct. ”

Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari reprised Reich arguments in their joint work Anti-Oedipus (1972), in which they discuss the formation of fascism at the molecular level of society.[10]

See also

Psychoanalytic sociology The Authoritarian Personality

References

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mass_Psychology_of_Fascism 2/3 10/3/2017 The Mass Psychology of Fascism - Wikipedia 1. The Mass Psychology of Fascism: Third Edition (http://www.powells.com/biblio/62-9780374508845-0#product _details) 2. John C. Conger; John P. Conger (2005). Jung and Reich: The Body as Shadow (https://books.google.com/?id=3 84opauD6YwC&pg=PA110). North Atlantic Books. p. 110. ISBN 978-1-55643-544-7. 3. Borch, Christian (2012). The Politics of Crowds: An Alternative History of Sociology (https://books.google.co m/?id=z_z0FBo9zA0C&pg=PA194). Cambridge University Press. p. 194. ISBN 978-1-107-00973-8. 4. http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/archivos_pdf/masspsychology_fascism.pdf 5. Sharaf, Myron (1994). Fury on Earth: A Biography of Wilhelm Reich (https://books.google.com/?id=ddlMl4jJg h0C&pg=PA163). Da Capo Press. p. 163. ISBN 0-306-80575-8. 6. The Mass Psychology of Fascism (http://www.answers.com/topic/mass-psychology-of-fascism-the) 7. According to his daughter Lore Reich (http://www.pep-web.org/document.php?id=IFP.012.0109A), and Ernest Jones were behind the expulsion of Reich. (see also The Century of the Self (https://www.youtube.co m/watch?v=BcXQK8oNOeE) on YouTube) 8. Biography (http://www.wilhelmreichmuseum.org/biography.html), The Wilhelm Reich Museum. Retrieved August 14, 2006. 9. The Sex-Economic Presuppositions of the Authoritarian Family, Chapter V 10. Anti-Oedipus, Continuum, 2004, pp. xiii, xviii

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