Application of the Theory of Deviation Behavior to Hitler - Essay Example

?Hitler – Deviant Behavior Theories of Criminal Deviance and Hitler Using Hitler’s life, examine the theories of criminal deviance we discussed in the lecture and the slideshow. Which best describes why Hitler committed acts of deviance or is it a combination of elements of all of them? What early social factors (like War) impacted Hitler’s development as a young adult – how did it impact his personality? Did Hitler suffer from Narcissistic Personality Disorder and how did this impact the nature of Nazism? What personal experiences help to intensify the feelings of anti-Semitism in Hitler? Deviance theories move in multiple directions and certain ideas about deviance are more recent than others. The behavior of Hitler and his brand of deviance is a combination of some kinds of deviant behavior theories but it is not the sum total of all deviant theories put together. For example, the biological theories of deviance support the claim that certain biological characteristics in human beings make them suited to deviant behavior. While these theories were recognized in the early twentieth century (coinciding nearly with Hitler’s time) but the lack of evidence to support such claims removed their credibility. Hence, it can be inferred that biological deviance theories do not apply to Hitler at all. In contrast, when the sociological theories of deviance are applied to Hitler’s case a more fitting situation can be seen. Merton’s Anomie theory on deviance characterizes Hitler to a large degree especially when Hitler’s childhood is considered. Hitler and his father were embroiled in father-son conflict since an early age. When Hitler’s family moved to Hafeld, the intensity of conflicts between father and son began to reach new intensity. The refusal of Hitler to conform to the discipline of the new school seems to have triggered new conflicts that were unprecedented in their intensity in Hitler’s life. In addition, Hitler was forced by his father to pursue a more technical career like his position at the customs office. However, Hitler had ideas of his own and wanted to become an artist from an early age. School records show that Hitler was active in the school choir and even took singing lessons. The strong willed father Alois did his best to force Hitler to submit to his will but Hitler remained stubborn and resisted as best as he could. Hitler was sent to Reaschule in Linz (a technical school) where Hitler performed poorly on purpose in order to convince his father to withdraw him from the school. When Hitler was not allowed to achieve the social status that he desired, he chose to rebel against competent authority (in this case his father) and started out on the path of deviance. As per Merton’s Anomie Theory, Hitler turned into a rebel who works as activists in order to overthrow society. In contrast, the symbolic interactions based theories such as cultural transmission or differential association theories fail to account for Hitler’s deviant behavior at an early age. It may be argued that Hitler was displaying deviant behavior at an early age with the help of his friends such as singing a different national anthem but this was unlike deviance shown by him in the future. In addition, the conflict perspective theories for deviant behavior apply to Hitler’s case since he saw the Austrian regime as oppressive and inimical to German progress. The conflict between the privileged and the unprivileged further gained credibility in Hitler’s eyes with his early interactions with Jews. The development of the idea that Jews controlled major portions of the economy and manipulated it to their favor further helped to strengthen Hitler’s anti-Semitic ideas. Hitler’s participation in the First World War furthered Hitler’s nationalistic ideas. He saw the war as a major grooming experience for himself (corroborated by his biography). He also felt that the German Army was invincible on ground but had lost due to backstabbing which he attributed to the civilian government, the Marxists and eventually the Jews. The imposition of the Treaty of Versailles on Germany only served to aggravate Hitler and his nationalistic approach to things. It can also be argued that Hitler was suffering from Narcissist Personality Disorder (NPD) that made him egocentric. Suffering from NPD meant that Hitler felt insecure about personal adequacy, power, prestige and pride. In order to deal with these portfolios, Hitler developed a personality that was unable to bear criticism. When faced with criticism Hitler would choose to react through anger in order to cover up his shame and humiliation. Furthermore, Hitler took advantage of several people in order to reach his goals through one form of manipulation or the other. Several of Hitler’s war accounts have been disputed from the First World War which in turn also indicate NPD. Hitler claimed to having been highly brave and having achieved highly in the war while official records confirm that he was bedridden with injuries for a major portion of the war. Hitler’s NPD affected personality gave rise to a Nazi party that was grounded in power struggles and manipulation such that the man on top was to be respected under all circumstances. Under the Nazi party’s regime, it was unholy to consider Hitler wrong in any respect at all. Therefore, the Nazi party took Hitler as some kind of a demigod and failed to question his ideas and beliefs before implementing them practically. The extreme loyalty of Nazi party members to Hitler and Hitler’s manipulating attitude paved Hitler’s path to power. Hitler’s rise to power How was Hitler able to use the social circumstances in Germany and the world to gain power? What was attractive to some of the German people to Hitler and especially his speaking style? How did he gain power – discuss legality, consolidation and externalization of his power and the doctrine of Nazism? How did he use propaganda and film reels to manipulate the public and create a god like image of himself and fool the public? Who could have stopped him from gaining ultimate power in Germany and starting World War II and how could they have done and lastly, why were they unable to do it? Germany was on the road to rough times after the end of the First World War as the country struggled on socio-economic and political fronts. The Treaty of Versailles had effectively amputated Germany from a number of its colonies that had been distributed amongst the victors. The territories of Alsace-Lorraine were returned to France leaving the German industry in a crippled state due to shortage of coal and iron ore. The victors also ensured that Germany’s mighty industrial complexes were dismantled so that Germany could not attempt war again. The state of near collapse of the industry meant that men who had been unemployed due to industrial collapse and discharge from military service at the end of the First World War were a galvanized force. The import of Marxism and Bolshevik ideas into Germany further aggravated the state of political affairs in the country. Both sides were prepared to take onto any means for success. On the foreign front Germany faced humiliation at the hand of the victors and on the local front Germany faced rising unemployment and disenchantment from the government. Cheap political stunts from the period relied on anti-Semitic agendas in order to garner the power base for elections to Parliament and other offices. Hitler compensated for the contemporary environment inside and outside Germany by luring people into the idea of a strengthened and revitalized Germany. The ideals presented by Hitler rivaled the glorious days of Bismarck when Germany was a major European power in the real sense. Socio-economic depravity, frustration, corruption and the disparity between the affluent and the poor provided large impetus to Hitler’s growth plans. It is undeniable that Hitler was a gifted speaker. Hitler’s ability to woo audiences through a combination of rhetoric, zeal and polemic led to an increase in his following in significant numbers. Initially the Nazi party’s drive to power and its following was limited in numbers. However, after Hitler took over the reins of the Nazi party he chose to pursue a more aggressive agenda. Large amounts of beer hall speeches conducted by Hitler were able to win him a large following after which Hitler expanded the Nazi party’s militarist wing with the help of professional soldiers. The Nazi party consolidated power for itself and attacked political opponents physically in order to disrupt their activities. Hitler was able to claim a large following but these numbers were not enough to install Hitler into a large position in governance. Hitler attempted a failed coup and was tried for high treason but he was able to make it out of jail in two short years. After securing his release, he strengthened the Nazi party and embarked on elections with a promise to repudiate Versailles and to provide jobs for the masses. Through a series of elections and manipulations in government, Hitler was finally able to secure the position of Chancellor for himself. Though Hitler had managed to become the Chancellor but his position in government was as yet weak because he was just another major coalition partner. The Reichstag fire in February 1933 was able to provide Hitler with two distinct advantages – rise to absolute power and the elimination of political opposition. Hitler set out to suppress even the most basic of legal rights for the average German but people accepted it and welcomed these changes hoping for lasting change. After gaining power one of Hitler’s foremost agendas was to drive his ideas into the hearts and minds of all German people. Among other things, these ideas blamed the Jews and the non-Aryan parts of population for Germany’s ills. Book burning was organized and political prisoners were rounded up in large numbers in order to suppress political opposition. Hitler’s propaganda ministry under the control of Joseph Goebbels managed to convince the Germans of Hitler’s ideas using propaganda literature, films, social engineering and the like. In addition, Hitler was projected as a superhuman who could never be wrong thus being a perfect model for all Germans to imitate. A large part of the propaganda effort was diverted towards children and young adults in order to secure future loyalty and success for the Nazi party. Major European players such as Great Britain and France could have played a greater role in obstructing Hitler’s passage to power. However, the exacting conditions enforced onto the German nation following the First World War meant that no country was ready to support Germany in rebuilding and rehabilitation efforts. The removal of foreign colonies and the weakening of the German economy were deemed enough by the victors to stop Germany from going to war again. Hitler’s initial rise to power and his rapid militarization schemes were paid little attention to as Hitler was deemed as an overconfident leader only. Initially Hitler was treated with an appeasement policy but this only fanned Hitler’s ambitions more. Extreme Elite Deviance and The Final Solution What is Extreme Elite Deviance? What is the final solution and how is it an example of Extreme Elite Deviance? What impact did Hitler, the Nazis and the Final Solution have on Europe and Germany – Did anything good come out of the violence of WWII? What is Total War and how is it an example of a deviant type of warfare versus the way warfare had been done in the past? In your opinion, could a person like Hitler and a group like the Nazi take over another modern democracy in the 21st century – why or why not? The term Extreme Elite Deviance refers to the creation of a social structure that was unique to Nazi Germany that was aimed to make the common person deviate with feelings of superiority. Hitler’s agenda of Aryan superiority held that all pure Germans were superior to other races and ethnicities in the world. Based on this basis of superiority the Aryans were justified in taking over other people’s nations and lives in order to support themselves economically. The Nazi regime underwent extensive research in order to prove biological and physiological differences between the Aryans and the rest of the world in an attempt to prove their superiority. The contention was to build and bolster German pride in being special. This in turn led to an over inflated ego and sense of importance for the average German who felt himself superior to other races in the world. This extreme German nationalism led to a number of extreme deviant measures such as the calculated genocide of other races such as the Jews, Romas etc. A major facet of the social deviance of the Aryans was the Final Solution implemented throughout mainland Europe. The Final Solution consisted of removing the inferior races such as the Jews as well as removing the weaker elements of society including political opposition in order to forge a unified German nation. Moreover, the Final Solution allowed the Aryans to exterminate other races using means such as concentration camps and their infamous gas chambers. The Final Solution was a doctrine designed to provide personal and collective justification to barbaric acts such as the mass genocide of human beings. Nazi education and indoctrination forced the entire German nation to accept the Final Solution without a lot of resistance. As a result of the Final Solution two thirds of the Jews residing in Europe were either displaced or murdered brutally along with numerous other races that were deemed unfit to live. The European mainland was turned into a large fortress after the German troops and air force was able to subdue it early in the war. The collective state of Europe was best described as the Atlantic Wall during this period because no supplies were allowed to leave or enter Europe without Nazi approval. In addition, the state of the economy on the European mainland hit new lows. The life of the common person became miserable with a constant fear of the Gestapo and SS that were determined to make Europe a police state just like Germany. For the few short years that Europe was embroiled in the Second World War, it slid back a few decades in terms of development. Millions of Europe’s finest were wasted due to the war leading to a post war labor shortage. The extent of destruction and carnage throughout Europe set new benchmarks for human sponsored barbarism. The violence of the Second World War led to little else than the displacement of the Jews from the continent and Europe’s decimation as a significant world power. Following the Second World War the British Empire collapsed while France struggled to stay afloat. Moreover, the war’s greatest curse came in the form of nuclear weapons that threaten human peace and existence on a daily basis. The Second World War is the quintessential total war of the modern age. Although there were similar efforts before the Second World War to mobilise all possible resources for war but the Second World War was the embodiment of the Total War concept. Total War refers to the mobilisation of all and every possible resource in order to win the war no matter what the cost. The level of conscription and troop mobilisation was unprecedented by anything previously in history. The size of the raised armies, air forces and navies was something that had never been seen before. In addition, the use of propaganda resources on a massive scale especially by the Nazis was unheard of before. Similarly, civilians were actively targeted and there was little regard for collateral damage on either side. The Second World War deviated from previous wars in many respects and can truly be labelled as a deviant war that set new benchmarks for violence, barbarism and bloodshed on an inter-continental scale. A person such as Hitler and a party such as the Nazi party could still take over a modern democracy if the circumstances were analogous to those in Germany pre-World War II. Hitler and the Nazis were all products of circumstances much like people in the modern day are. If society tends to marginalize and corner one brand of people whether on the national front or the international front, there will be some reaction. The Nazis were a reaction of the isolated societies of the forties but today’s realities are far different. The world is truly a global village now and the international society encompasses every human settlement there is. The current spate of terrorism is also a reaction to certain actions that have created imbalance in this international society. Now unlike before the threat to democracy comes from both within and from without. If cornered like the Germans before the Second World War, there is little doubt that modern democracies may also fall to barbarism. Read More