Fascism

Fascism dominated politics and society in the 1920s and 1930s and resulted in one of the world’s most destructive wars. The enormity of the suffering has led to an interest in fascism and its origins, with the hope that understanding what it is and why it occurred will prevent it from happening again. The sociological study of fascism is historical, interdisciplinary, and comparative. A key feature of the scholarship is the debate about fascism’s definition. Because it was the world’s first fascist regime, some claim that the characteristics of Italian fascism under Mussolini should form the basis for the definition, or that Italian fascism is the only instance of fascism. Others argue that the political ideologies and groups that marked the first half of the 20th century had a number of features in common and that, although fascism played out differently in national contexts, a generic definition is possible. Recent scholarship points to a consensus in favor of a generic definition. Fascism promised a solution to the divisions and decay wrought by liberal democracy and communism through mass mobilization, national cleansing, and national rebirth. Roger Griffin said fascism was “palingenetic populist ultranationalism” (Griffin 1993, p. 26, cited under Definitions). Whether fascism manifests as an intellectual current, social movement, political party, or regime also figures in its definition because fascism’s form affects what it can do. Some comparative research focuses on differences between fascism and other authoritarian, conservative, or right-wing groups, as well as relations between fascists and these groups. Since the rebirth that fascism promises usually entails controlling biological and cultural reproduction, women’s roles in fascist ideology and regimes have been the subject of recent studies. Scholars have also likened fascism to religion, for its reliance on myths, symbols, rituals, and commemoration in both ideology and practice, and have studied fascism as an example of totalitarianism, often in comparison to communist Russia. Debates about the definition of fascism are inextricably linked to theories of its emergence. Some scholars explain fascism’s origins by looking at intellectual, cultural, political, or economic factors. Others claim that the only way to understand why fascism occurred is to study its leaders and their intentions (e.g., Adolf Hitler), and its members, voters, and supporters. The definition of fascism and its organizational form also affect which countries are studied, whether for case or comparative analysis. Italy and Germany have received the most attention, but many other countries are the subject of inquiry too. Some scholars have examined dozens of countries in an effort to classify them as fascist or otherwise. The scope of fascist studies expands as new insights emerge, as more disciplines become involved, as new methods of inquiry are developed, and as new sources of data become available, such as archives in Russia, eastern Europe after the fall of the Soviet Union, and the Vatican. Finally, many scholars are preoccupied by the possibility of fascism’s return in today’s far right in countries all over the world. These are studies for which questions about definition and origins are also important, but perhaps more pressing are concerns about the activities of these groups and whether they pose a threat to democracy and, if so, how to contain them.