Methods | Statistics | Clinical | Educational | Industrial |
Professional items | World psychology | The premise of the book
is as follows: Mass movements spread by promising a glorious
future, and they need people to be willing to sacrifice all for
that future, including themselves and others. To do that, they
need to devalue the past and present. Therefore, mass movements
appeal to the frustrated; people who are dissatisfied with their
current state, but are capable of a strong belief in the future
and to people who want to escape a flawed self by creating an
imaginary self and joining a compact collective whole to escape
themselves. Some categories of such people are the poor, the
misfits, the creative thwarted in their endeavors, the
inordinately selfish, the ambitious facing unlimited
opportunities, minorities, the bored, and the sinners. The book
also explores the behavior of mass movements once they become
established (or leave the "active phase"). The True Believer
spares no one. Communists, Fascists,