Hoffer thinks that a Hitler or Stalin might rise to power in America, but would probably be deposed fairly quickly.pic.twitter.com/WN1k9uhOED
Complex systems, wicked problems. Society, technology, science and more. @UNC professor. @NYTimes columnist. My newsletter is @insight: http://www.theinsight.org
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Hoffer thinks that a Hitler or Stalin might rise to power in America, but would probably be deposed fairly quickly.pic.twitter.com/WN1k9uhOED
Hoffer also offers, in passing, a plug for...Vladimir Lenin?pic.twitter.com/8Tpu3RjVZL
Remember: Hoffer doesn't think mass movements and revolutions are bad; he thinks they're necessary! But that because they're necessarily carried out by fanatics and bitter losers, they're very dangerous things, and should be brief and to-the-point.pic.twitter.com/IMAcDTRPdg
Anyway, "The True Believer" is just the mostly unsupported ranting of one guy. But it has many interesting ideas that might help to understand current events! You can order it here: https://www.amazon.com/True-Believer-Thoughts-Movements-Perennial/dp/0060505915/ref=mp_s_a_1_1 … (end)
That book is the “assume a spherical cow” of social movement sociology! Aka debunked by decades of actual empirical sociology research. It makes for a fun reading, I guess, as long as you don’t actually take it seriously. 
What are some examples of points that were debunked?
The whole who joins movements part. Not at all found in actual research. None of the typologies hold. Practically the whole book. It’s just a eloquent guy ranting. Maybe you could say there are some insights of sorts into perhaps cults, kind of? Not movements.
I'd love to check out some of the debunking papers! Can you link me to a paper or two on the topic of who joins movements?
seconded! i love this topic. i would guess that "who joins movements" changes as the movement evolves. early social movements might attract radicals when the cause itself is radical, but for any movement to succeed it eventually has to win over the less radical majority
that is: i'd guess the sort of person who supports gay marriage in 1985 is really different from the lawyer who signs an amicus brief for the Supreme Court case in 2015 ... but they're both parts of the movement
His description of early radicals is off, too. People who supported gay marriage in 1985 weren’t senseless fanatics, just marginalized. And the gay movement radicalization in the face of the AIDS catastrophe is very rational. Movement people aren’t irrational fanatics in general.
Hmm, this sounds more like a competing value judgment than a "debunking". I'd love to see some actual research papers on the topic of personality profiles of people who join mass movements! I can hunt around for links on Google Scholar...
Note that while Hoffer characterizes movement-joiners as people who need to fill a personal void in their own lives, this doesn't mean he thinks movements are bad things -- indeed, he sees them as necessary for fixing failing societies.
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