F-Scale

After the Second World War (1939–1945), a number of important programs of psychological research were launched with the goal of gaining a better understanding of human behavior in support of dictatorial regimes. During the 1930s particularly, not only had Hitler and Mussolini gained widespread support in Germany and Italy, but fascism also gained strong support in other Western societies, including in Britain where the profascist leader Sir Oswald Mosley led the so-called Blackshirts. Mosely enjoyed some support among both the general public and the British aristocracy. Although the war against Germany’s Nazi regime changed the [Page 313]situation, the question remained as to why antidemocratic leaders had enjoyed such widespread support in Western democracies and why such terrible atrocities were committed during the war. The F-scale, ...