Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 1, No. 1, 2002, Page 38
many initiation rituals. From religious rites to fraternity hazing, cognitive dissonance leads
to attitude change, ―hardening‖ of belief systems, and greatly increased affiliation (bonding
and loyalty).
I have briefly reviewed our vulnerability to making inaccurate judgments as a result of our
prior beliefs, expectations, attractions, and financial relationships. Many or even most of you
were probably aware of these social psychological influences. So you and I are immune to
them, right? Not according to Robert Kraut and Steven Lewis of the Bell Labs. In their
study, published in the Journal of Personality &Social Psychology, they found that we
scholars are only moderately accurate at estimating the impact of these incidental
influences on our judgments (Kraut &Lewis, 1982).
Misplaced Loyalties
The next two examples hit closer to home for me, although they are admittedly quite
extreme. I want to make my own bias clear here. I am the son of two Holocaust survivors,
with no surviving direct relatives on my father‘s side. For my entire adult life this fact has
had a profound influence on how I perceive social movements. I am antitotalitarian at a
very gut level, and that has biased me in the direction of being critical of any movement
with a totalistic world view and a strong emphasis on obedience to authority. As many of
you may know, the National Socialist German Worker‘s Party--the Nazi Party--started out as
what I would now label a political cult. The Nazi Party gained some surprising supporters
and apologists. Most would later claim that they continued to support the Party because
they simply could not believe anyone would be capable of the atrocities being reported in
sporadic leaks from political prisons and concentration camps.
Carl Jung, the kinder, gentler psychoanalyst who is the psychospiritual godfather of the
contemporary New Age movement, conducted seminars in 1932 with Wilhelm Hauer, the
founder of the German Faith Movement. Shortly after the seminars, the German Faith
Movement was officially adopted by the ascendant Nazi party as the official religion of
Germany. Although Jung then distanced himself somewhat from Hauer‘s official position, he
continued to urge Hauer to publish with him and to hold joint seminars on ―comparative
religion‖ (Noll, 1995).
The renowned founder of modern existentialism, Martin Heidegger, was a much more
blatant toady for Nazism. Heidegger wrote his first book in 1927, and swore loyalty to Hitler
in 1933. That same year, he eagerly replaced the dissenting rector at the University of
Freiburg. Heidegger headed the movement to unite workers and students into the Party
and signed orders firing Jewish professors. When Hitler wanted him in Munich in 1933 and
Berlin in 1935, Heidegger remained at Freiburg, and after 1934 he resigned as rector,
pleading too much political influence. His fervent support of Nazism during the year he was
rector was given when their power was weakest, and because Heidegger appeared to have
distanced himself from the Party after 1933, investigations by the French after the war
cleared him of war crimes.
However, thanks largely to the German historian and Heidegger biographer Hugo Ott (1993)
and to Victor Farias (1987), the author of Heidegger and Nazism, even Heidegger‘s
supporters have had to admit that he was and remained a wholly convinced Nazi, organizing
paramilitary camps for his students, spouting martial rhetoric about the ―inner truth and
greatness of National Socialism,‖ and denouncing colleagues --including his own teacher --
as Jews. According to reviewer Anthony Gottlieb (1990) of The New York Times, the jurors
at the denazification hearings in 1945, which more or less cleared Heidegger‘s name and
made his rehabilitation possible, were hoodwinked --as was Martin Heidegger.
many initiation rituals. From religious rites to fraternity hazing, cognitive dissonance leads
to attitude change, ―hardening‖ of belief systems, and greatly increased affiliation (bonding
and loyalty).
I have briefly reviewed our vulnerability to making inaccurate judgments as a result of our
prior beliefs, expectations, attractions, and financial relationships. Many or even most of you
were probably aware of these social psychological influences. So you and I are immune to
them, right? Not according to Robert Kraut and Steven Lewis of the Bell Labs. In their
study, published in the Journal of Personality &Social Psychology, they found that we
scholars are only moderately accurate at estimating the impact of these incidental
influences on our judgments (Kraut &Lewis, 1982).
Misplaced Loyalties
The next two examples hit closer to home for me, although they are admittedly quite
extreme. I want to make my own bias clear here. I am the son of two Holocaust survivors,
with no surviving direct relatives on my father‘s side. For my entire adult life this fact has
had a profound influence on how I perceive social movements. I am antitotalitarian at a
very gut level, and that has biased me in the direction of being critical of any movement
with a totalistic world view and a strong emphasis on obedience to authority. As many of
you may know, the National Socialist German Worker‘s Party--the Nazi Party--started out as
what I would now label a political cult. The Nazi Party gained some surprising supporters
and apologists. Most would later claim that they continued to support the Party because
they simply could not believe anyone would be capable of the atrocities being reported in
sporadic leaks from political prisons and concentration camps.
Carl Jung, the kinder, gentler psychoanalyst who is the psychospiritual godfather of the
contemporary New Age movement, conducted seminars in 1932 with Wilhelm Hauer, the
founder of the German Faith Movement. Shortly after the seminars, the German Faith
Movement was officially adopted by the ascendant Nazi party as the official religion of
Germany. Although Jung then distanced himself somewhat from Hauer‘s official position, he
continued to urge Hauer to publish with him and to hold joint seminars on ―comparative
religion‖ (Noll, 1995).
The renowned founder of modern existentialism, Martin Heidegger, was a much more
blatant toady for Nazism. Heidegger wrote his first book in 1927, and swore loyalty to Hitler
in 1933. That same year, he eagerly replaced the dissenting rector at the University of
Freiburg. Heidegger headed the movement to unite workers and students into the Party
and signed orders firing Jewish professors. When Hitler wanted him in Munich in 1933 and
Berlin in 1935, Heidegger remained at Freiburg, and after 1934 he resigned as rector,
pleading too much political influence. His fervent support of Nazism during the year he was
rector was given when their power was weakest, and because Heidegger appeared to have
distanced himself from the Party after 1933, investigations by the French after the war
cleared him of war crimes.
However, thanks largely to the German historian and Heidegger biographer Hugo Ott (1993)
and to Victor Farias (1987), the author of Heidegger and Nazism, even Heidegger‘s
supporters have had to admit that he was and remained a wholly convinced Nazi, organizing
paramilitary camps for his students, spouting martial rhetoric about the ―inner truth and
greatness of National Socialism,‖ and denouncing colleagues --including his own teacher --
as Jews. According to reviewer Anthony Gottlieb (1990) of The New York Times, the jurors
at the denazification hearings in 1945, which more or less cleared Heidegger‘s name and
made his rehabilitation possible, were hoodwinked --as was Martin Heidegger.
