The Sociology of the NSDAP

The Question of Working-Class Membership

Bibliographic Data

ID10073224
AuthorsDetlef Mühlberger (corresponding author)
Year1980
Volume15
Issue3
Pages493-511
Publication date1980-07-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Contemporary History (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0022-0094 • E-ISSN: 1461-7250
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/002200948001500306
OpenAlexW2018604726
LanguageEN
Citations received6
References cited1

Both preand post-war studies on the sociology of Nazism have popularized the view that the Nazi Party received little, if any, support from the working class, the largest social group in German society.' Virtually all analysts of the sociology of the NSDAP have reached the conclusion that one must view the party as a middle-class party (Mittelstandspartei), or class party (Klassenpartei), and not as a people's party (Volkspartei), or movement drawing support from all social classes.2 In some ways the thesis of the middle-class nature of Nazism is understandable.3 The NSDAP did receive its strongest support from the middle class, which loomed large in the party's membership and furnished it with the bulk of its leaders and functionaries.4 It is also clear that the emergence of the party in electoral terms between 1930 and 1933 was strongly linked to the collapse of support for a number of middle-class parties.5 At first sight the middle-class nature of Nazism does look very convincing

Class (philosophy · Epistemology · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Working class · European history and politics · German Social Sciences and History · Italian Fascism and Post-war Society · Law · Philosophy

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