Fascism rests on a long-term anthropological reshaping of social character.

Evidence

This held that a fundamental anthropological change was taking place which, precisely in the absence of cultural illusions and in the absence of belief in any ideology, was leaving humanity submissive and obsequious towards its rulers. Individuals will be subjected to a new form of selective breeding which will affect the foundations of social character. The transformation of the oppressed nineteenth-century unemployed worker into the obsequious member of a fascist organization recalls, in its historical significance, the transformation of the medieval craftsman into the Protestant citizen by the Reformation, or of the English village poor into modern industrial workers. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 280

Categorization

• DEFINE: Fromm’s social-psychological functionalism: anthropological change, not ideology or illusion, produces submissive character.
• DEEPTHINKING: The Reformation and industrialization analogies frame fascism as a third epochal reshaping of human character, not a political episode.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 280
• XREF: connects to: Fascism transforms social character as profoundly as the Reformation and industrialization did — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 1072; Fascism exploits natural human tendencies while democracy requires uphill virtues; Fascism exploits psychological tendencies rather than being caused by them. — Theodor W. Adorno, The Culture Industry: Selected Essays…, 206 (+2 more)

Broader Connections

• Fascism transforms social character as profoundly as the Reformation and industrialization did #expands (0.85) — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 1072
• Fascism exploits psychological tendencies rather than being caused by them. #expands (0.80) — Theodor W. Adorno, The Culture Industry, 206
• Cultural identity shifts can outstrip and outlast political revolutions. #expands (0.80)
• Fascist personalities substitute a group ego for their own super-ego #expands (0.78)
• Fascism exploits natural human tendencies while democracy requires uphill virtues #expands (0.75)