The split ego predates fascism as a structural feature of modern society

Evidence

As a matter of fact the split of the ego which, as you know, is one of the main theses of the article on the End of Reason [Horkheimer’s essay in the last issue of SPSS] has a long pre-history. What happens today is only the consummation of a trend which permeates the whole modern era. It has made itself felt not only within the old juxtaposition of theological and scientific truth, but much more drastically within the division of labor and leisure, of private morals and business principles, of private and public life, and in unnumerable [sic] other aspects of the existing order. What fascism does with respect to the personality is only to manipulate consciously and skillfully a break which itself is based on the most fundamental mechanisms of this society. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 1201

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the book’s broader Frankfurt School thread: Horkheimer’s ‘End of Reason’ thesis and the critique of instrumental reason as a defining feature of modernity. — connects to: Psychoanalytic theorists explained fascism’s appeal via unconscious personality needs. — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 100

Broader Connections

• Psychoanalytic theorists explained fascism’s appeal via unconscious personality needs. #expands (0.75) — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 100