The results show that when examining social mobility between generations, Nazi members advanced further than non-members due to the fact that people joining the organisations were already ‘upwardly mobile’ individuals, rather than acquiring higher-status positions as a direct reward of joining.

The research was conducted by Dr Alan de Bromhead, Senior Lecturer in Economics at Queen’s Management School and Dr Matthias Blum from the German Medical Association in Berlin, formerly of Queen’s Management School.

They examined a unique dataset of approximately 10,000 World War II German soldiers from the 1930s and 1940s, which contains detailed information on social background such as occupation and education, as well as other characteristics like religion, criminal record and military service.

The dataset also identified membership of different Nazi organisations such as the NSDAP, SA, SS and Hitler Youth.

Some of the key findings include: 

• Members of the Nazi organisations were more likely to come from high-status backgrounds and had higher levels of education
• People from a higher-status background were almost twice as likely to join the Nazi organisations than someone from a lower-status background
• Catholics were less likely to join Nazi organisations.

Speaking about the research findings, Dr de Bromhead from Queen’s Management School said: “The research indicates that certain types of people were more likely to become members of Nazi organisations than others. It reminds us that we need to think beyond pure ideology when it comes to motivations for joining extremist groups and look at economic and social factors too.”

Dr Blum commented: “It is impossible to uncover exactly what motivated people to join the Nazis, but our findings suggest that many educated and ambitious individuals from the higher end of the social scale were attracted to the movement. Interestingly this seems to be the case not just for those who joined after the Nazi party came to power in 1933, but also to members who joined when the party was on the fringes of the Weimar political system in the 1920s.”

“The study not only helps us to understand how the Nazi party emerged and came to power in the years before World War II but also gives us an insight into how extremist organisations form and attract members more generally,” Dr de Bromhead added.

For more information on the study, please visit: http://www.quceh.org.uk/uploads/1/0/5/5/10558478/wp17-04.pdf

ENDS... 

 

 

Dr Alan de Bromhead

Dr Alan de Bromhead

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