Those most committed to defending democracy are career-restricted to powerless citizenship.

Evidence

The conclusion was therefore: `According to these findings, the group which is weaker in any casethe one which is fundamentally and definitely committed to defending democracy in a crisis, using appropriate meanswill additionally be hindered by the fact that, to a greater extent than the group with authoritarian potential, it will later on remain restricted to the modest room for manoeuvre afforded by the role of a mere citizen.’ — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 581

Categorization

• DEEPTHINKING: The finding inverts the assumption that democratic conviction and social position reinforce each other: the committed democrats are structurally confined to the weakest political role, so the group that would defend democracy in a crisis has the least capacity to act.
• XREF: Connects to the Frankfurt School’s Weimar-era worker study, where authoritarian personality types could transfer loyalty from socialism to Nazism. — connects to: Democracy has fanatical enemies but only lukewarm defenders. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 442; Democracy requires that every citizen can govern, not merely reach a better job — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 366; Political activity is often a prerequisite for becoming a judge yet then forbidden — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 556
• yield-rescued: below the book’s yield-target cutoff, included anyway for connecting to: Democracy has fanatical enemies but only lukewarm defenders. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 442; Democracy requires that every citizen can govern, not merely reach a better job — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 366; Political activity is often a prerequisite for becoming a judge yet then forbidden — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 556