The Summer of 1939

1. The Summer of 1939

2. Summer of 1939: Lecture Objectives • Describe the events of the summer of 1939 and the dilemma of the Nazi vote. • Describe the Lewin democracy experiment. • State why laissez-faire turns to autocracy. • Contrast the nature of democracy and autocracy.

3. Two events of Summer 1939 • Hitler invades Poland & Czechoslovakia • Jagiellonian University • Kurt Lewin and his students Ralph White and Ron Lippitt publish their experiments on the nature of democracy and autocracy conducted at Iowa University

4. Hitler’s rise to power • Fought in WWI • 1920s-1930s: Germany in relative deprivation (Treaty of Versailles; Frei Corp.) • His demagoguery emphasized: nationalism, anti-Semitism, anti-communism, Aryan strength • Becomes Chancellor in 1932; Nazi party in 1932-33 elections receives 33.1, 37.4, & 44.9% of votes • Autocratic rule (propaganda to justify regime; power accumulated in the Nazi party) • Results: • 36.5 million human beings died in WWII • 6 million Jews (over 90% of the total Jewish population in Europe) plus untold other “undesirables” killed in genocide known as the holocaust

5. Kurt Lewin • Fought for the Germans in WWI • Jewish refugee who escaped Nazi Germany in 1932 • Founder of the field of experimental social psychology • First dissertations in social psychology • His heirs in social psychology • Wondered: What is the nature of democracy?

6. The dilemma of Nazi vote • Common definition of democracy: majority rule of the people (through the vote) • Is it just majority rule and elections? If so, then Nazi Germany was a democracy • And so are: Soviet Union, Castro’s Cuba, Iran, Mussolini’s Italy (mob) plus other despotic regimes • Iraq & Palestine?

7. What is democracy? • “Democracy must be something more than two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for lunch.” • James Bovard (civil libertarian)

8. What is the “more?” • Wertheimer: the protection of minority rights and the fostering of institutions to support those rights • Imagine that we vote that Student X must always bring donuts to class. • Minority = those not in the majority due to opinion, ethnicity, religion, or whatever. • A common complaint: Why did the courts overturn the will of the people? • Will of the people • Power to the people

9. How to protect minority rights – America’s solution • Madisonian principles in the US Constitution • Place checks and balances on the accumulation and use of power • Bill of Rights (plus some Constitutional amendments) • Contract among citizens to protect each others’ rights

10. What is the “more?” • Kurt Lewin: Democracy and autocracy are “climates” or patterns of social relationships.” • Democracy: Leader leads the group in setting policy, tasks, and procedures • Autocracy: Leader sets policy, tasks, and procedures • Laissez-faire: Do your own thing; no leader involvement • Conducted an experiment to understand the nature of these relationships

11. Lewin’s experiment on democracy, autocracy, and laissez-faire • Setting: Boy’s club • IV: Different types of leadership • Democracy • Autocracy • Laissez-faire • DV: Social effects • Productivity & Creativity • Satisfaction and happiness • Hostility (false accusations) • Show DVD of original footage

12. Results of Lewin’s experiment • Productivity & Creativity • Satisfaction and happiness • Hostility (false accusations)

13. Productivity & Creativity • Democracy • High rate of production; most creative products • Autocracy • High rate of production, but only when the boss was present; no creativity • Laissez-faire • Lowest rate of production; poor creativity

14. Democracy and Productivity on the world stage • Poor democracies compared to poor autocracies show democracies • Higher economic growth rates • Better quality of life (clean water, literacy, agriculture yields, health) • 9 years longer life expectancy • Better at avoiding calamites (e.g. severe crop failure; economic ruin) • Autocracies show short productivity increases that then decline • From: Siegle, Weinstein, & Halperin Sept/Oct 2004 Foreign Affairs

15. Satisfaction • Democracy • Friendly relations; liked the group and group members • Autocracy • Dependency & frustration; manipulative of others (hide feelings) • Laissez-faire • High discontent; bored; high-drop-out rate

16. Democracy and Satisfaction on the world stage • Surveys of 100,000 person in 55 nations. • Nations measured on capitalistic democracy vs. autocracy • High income, individualism, human rights, and social equality • Subjective well-being is highly correlated with the indicators of capitalistic democracy

17. Hostility • Democracy • Moderate rate of hostility • Autocracy • Exp 1: Highest rates of hostility • Exp 2: Highest rates (for certain leaders) and lowest rates (for other leaders) that become high when leader leaves • Laissez-faire • High rates of hostility due to boredom (horseplay to pass the time)

18. Hostility in autocracies • Leaders maintain their power through: • Scapegoating (blaming problems on a few out-members) • Leader excuse for failure • Hatred of scapegoat increases cohesion • Monkey on a stick: You don’t want to be a scapegoat • Self-esteem boost (not like them) • Projection (accusing others of your own misdeeds) • Deflects attention from leader’s sins and places blame on others • Two important indicators of authoritarian leaders but it requires careful analysis • Sibling accuses sibling of stealing the cookie; to know the truth requires detailed “detective work”

19. Why less hostility in democracies? • Throughout history: No mature democracy has ever attacked another mature democracy! • War of 1812 possible exception • Mature democracies are not less aggressive than autocracies; just that mature democracies do not attack each other • Immature democracies have higher rates of attacks than either autocracy or mature democracy

20. Why this pattern? • Mature democracies: • Have mechanisms for conflict resolution other than war • Have means for status attainment other than position in hierarchy • Have interdependencies that dampen conflict • Immature democracies • Do not have well-established conflict resolution mechanisms • Leaders may need to appeal to the people to maintain power and to do that it is useful to create scapegoats and enemies

21. Litwin & Stringer 1968 replication • Set up a mock business simulation with autocratic vs. democratic (affiliation) vs. democratic (achievement) leadership • Democratic (affiliation): leader encouraged placing a premium on good (fun) relationships (t-groups) • Democratic (achievement): leader encouraged achievement through personal goal setting

22. Litwin & Stringer results • Autocratic • Norms • Leaders and workers separated • “Follow the rules or else” norm • Do only what you are told • Results • High rate of production but a costly production process that negated profits; no innovation • Low job satisfaction

23. Litwin & Stringer results • Democratic (affiliation) • Norms • Friendliness amongst all • Equality • Democratic decision making • Results • Low productivity and moderate innovations • High job satisfaction

24. Litwin & Stringer results • Democratic (achievement) • Norms (Silicon Valley) • Keep busy; take on work • Teamwork • Individual responsibility for job • Make job fun • Beat everyone else (competition) • Results • High productivity and very high innovations • High job satisfaction

25. The Lewin experiment in broader context • What have we learned about the nature of the three types of climates?

26. Laissez-faire is not democracy • Some of Lewin’s experimenters at first thought democracy was merely do your own thing • Today’s variants of laissez-faire • Libertarianism • New Age • Radical free market (kleptocracy) • Lesson: Democracy is not the lack of persuasion (propaganda) but persuasion of a certain kind (self-generated, participatory persuasion)

27. Laissez-faire becomes autocracy • Michels Iron Law of Oligopoly: all forms of organizations will eventually and inevitably develop into oligarchies (political power rest with a few elites) • Michels was a socialist observing his own movement • Anthony’s Addendum: unless that organization takes the steps needed to prevent the rise of autocracy

28. Why the Iron Law of Oligopoly? • Power (influence) abhors a vacuum • Why are there North and South Koreas? • Iraq post Saddam • Lord Acton: "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” • David Kipnis: experimental studies placing people in power creates a metamorphism: • Devalues target of influence; uses influence more; believe he/she deserves to use power; believe that they are more worthy than others

29. The State is a constitutional democracy or Abraham Lincoln’s principles “of the people, for the people, by the people” under the rule of law Individual serves state & leader or Ulpain’s principle of Quod principi placuit legis vigorem habet. (What pleases the prince has the force of law). Nature of Democracy vs. Autocracy

30. Co-participation of leaders in discovering solutions Authority used to stimulate discussion System of checks and balances Predetermined solution by elites Authority used to induce acceptance of elites Leader behavior not constrained by rules of group Nature of Democracy vs. Autocracy

31. Reciprocity of influence; multiple independent sources of information Decentralized communication Flexible group boundaries and roles that allow additional resources to be obtained to solve problems Unidirectional influence from elites; single or colluding sources of information Centralized communication Rigid group boundaries and social roles Nature of Democracy vs. Autocracy

32. Minority opinion encouraged as a means of better decision making; feedback encouraged Agenda, objectives, and work tasks set through group discussion Rewards used to move group towards objectives Minority opinion is censored via neglect, ridicule, social pressure, or persecution; feedback discouraged Agenda, objectives, and work tasks set by elites Rewards used to maintain group structure and leader’s status and power Nature of Democracy vs. Autocracy

33. Merit based promotion Decisions are fact-based and requires technical skills Capable of seeing “gray” of complex issues Compromise & mutual gain Promotion based on obedience and loyalty to own group Decisions based on truthiness, self-interest, and corruption Manchesian black-white thinking Squash the opposition Nature of Democracy vs. Autocracy

34. Persuasion based on debate, discussion, and careful consideration of options; self-generated and participatory; persuasion as discovery Propaganda that plays on prejudices and emotions Nature of Democracy vs. Autocracy

35. The next lectures • Address John Dewey & Ben Franklin’s concerns: • Dewey: “Democracy has to be born anew every generation, and education is its midwife." • As he left the 1787 Constitutional Convention, a Mrs. Powell asked: “What have you given us, Dr. Franklin?“ Franklin replied, "A republic if you can keep it.” • Freedom isn’t free • What are the social psychological processes that promote autocracy and how can they be checked? • Obedience to authority, conformity, granfallooning, rationalization, propaganda, concentration of power, corruption • What are the social psychological processes that promote democracy and how can they be developed? • Tolerance & empathy, minority influence, prejudice-reduction, growth of middle-class, DIME & conflict resolution

36. But first…. • We will look at why utopias fail • See the power of the Iron law and the need for conflict resolution mechanisms to resolve tensions • Begin our discussion on how to implement the democratic climate • What could these utopias have done to create a successful social organization?