A people can be made to follow any leader through officials’ psychological methods.

Evidence

The meaning of this slogan is simply that the people are all nothing but herds of cattle, whose nature is to follow any leader; or, to put it in a more modern way, who can be made to do anything one wants as a result of officials’ familiarity with psychological methods … Who can hold the Germans responsible for the Nazis? We know perfectly well that they would have gone over to Stalin or General Motors with exactly the same enthusiasm! — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 406

Categorization

• DEEPTHINKING: A radical denial of collective moral responsibility that recasts fascism as a general susceptibility to herd-following and psychological manipulation, interchangeable with enthusiasm for Stalin or General Motors.
• XREF: Connects to the Frankfurt School’s mass-culture and ‘culture industry’ thesis, and to Marcuse’s and Adorno’s postwar diagnoses of manipulated consciousness. — connects to: Followers identify with and extend effort for charismatic leaders. — Roderick M. Kramer, Geoffrey J. Leonardelli, Robert W. Livingston, Social Cognition, Social Identity, and…, 1866; Leaders secure their position by enabling followers to become successful agents.; Leaders lead by representing a consensus that shared identity makes possible. — Stephen Reicher, S. Alexander Haslam, and Nick Hopkins, Social identity and the dynamics of…, 67 (+5 more)
• yield-rescued: below the book’s yield-target cutoff, included anyway for connecting to: Followers identify with and extend effort for charismatic leaders. — Roderick M. Kramer, Geoffrey J. Leonardelli, Robert W. Livingston, Social Cognition, Social Identity, and…, 1866; Leaders secure their position by enabling followers to become successful agents.; Leaders lead by representing a consensus that shared identity makes possible. — Stephen Reicher, S. Alexander Haslam, and Nick Hopkins, Social identity and the dynamics of…, 67 (+5 more)

Broader Connections

• Leaders secure their position by enabling followers to become successful agents. #complicates (0.78)
• Leaders lead by representing a consensus that shared identity makes possible. #complicates (0.76) — Stephen Reicher, S. Alexander Haslam, and Nick Hopkins, Social identity and the dynamics of…, 67
• Leadership success depends on granting followers effective agency. #complicates (0.76) — Stephen Reicher, S. Alexander Haslam, and Nick Hopkins, Social identity and the dynamics of…, 123
• Leadership acts on followers through collective group norms, not just individual exchange #complicates (0.75) — Stephen Reicher, S. Alexander Haslam, and Nick Hopkins, Social identity and the dynamics of…, 34
• Followers are swayed most by leaders who embody the group’s valued traits. #complicates (0.74) — Roderick M. Kramer, Geoffrey J. Leonardelli, Robert W. Livingston, Social Cognition, Social Identity, and…, 1762
• Leadership rests on reciprocal imitation, each following because others follow #complicates (0.72) — Niklas Luhmann, Trust and Power, 738