Fascist Attitudes Scale

Abstract

The Fascist Attitudes Scale is an influential, early measure of political and social attitudes developed by Ross Stagner in 1936. It was created during a period of global economic crisis and rising authoritarian movements to explore the psychological tendencies toward political ideologies characterized by strong nationalism, centralized authority, and protectionist economic policies among the American populace. The instrument utilized a True-False format across 50 items to quantify agreement with proto-fascist sentiments concerning economic recovery, military strength, immigration control, and the critical role of charismatic leadership in overcoming national crises like the Great Depression.

This measure is significant in the history of Social Psychology as one of the first empirical attempts to assess authoritarian dispositions before the development of the widely recognized California F-Scale. It provides valuable historical context regarding the specific attitudes toward labor, government intervention, and international relations prevalent in the United States in the mid-1930s.

Keywords

Fascism, Political Psychology, Fascist attitudes, Authoritarianism, Great Depression, Nationalism, Stagner, Psychometric scale, Social attitudes, 1936.

Authors

Ross Stagner.

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Purpose

The primary purpose of the Fascist Attitudes Scale was to conduct an exploratory study into the prevalence and structure of attitudes sympathetic to Fascist ideology within the American population. Stagner sought to move beyond anecdotal observation to empirically measure the acceptance of political solutions rooted in strong centralized power and nationalistic fervor, which were seen as potential remedies for the widespread economic distress of the 1930s.

Additionally, the scale aimed to identify how individual beliefs regarding economic policy, labor relations, and foreign affairs clustered together to form a coherent, authoritarian worldview. It served as an early foundation for subsequent research into political extremism and personality correlates in Social Psychology.

Construct

The scale measures a complex, multi-dimensional construct representing political and social attitudes aligned with nascent fascist or authoritarian tendencies specific to the American context of the 1930s. This construct is characterized by several core psychological components, including a preference for decisive, strong leadership over democratic processes, economic protectionism, and militaristic solutions to domestic and international problems.

The items reflect key thematic areas: 1) **Anti-Radicalism and Anti-Labor** (distrust of strikes, communism, and labor unions); 2) **National Supremacy and Protectionism** (stopping immigration, prioritizing American markets, demanding war debts); 3) **Militaristic Discipline** (support for military training for the unemployed, building the navy); and 4) **Elitism and Distrust of Democracy** (belief that the average person is not intelligent enough to vote). The measure captures a belief system favoring order, sacrifice for the nation, and the rejection of international cooperation.

Validity

As a pioneering instrument in political psychological measurement from 1936, the Fascist Attitudes Scale primarily demonstrated initial face validity and content validity. The items were crafted directly from contemporary political rhetoric and press coverage of the Great Depression, ensuring the content was highly relevant to the political debates of the time.

Later academic reviews, such as those included in Robinson and Shaver’s compendium (1969), acknowledged the scale’s historical importance and its utility in capturing the specific configuration of attitudes prevalent during the pre-World War II era. While comprehensive modern psychometric validation (e.g., convergent or discriminant validity against personality traits) is often limited in the original documentation, the scale serves as a crucial benchmark for understanding the evolution of authoritarian measurements.

Reliability

Specific reliability coefficients, such as Cronbach’s Alpha or test-retest reliability, are generally not readily available in brief historical summaries of this 1936 scale. However, given the instrument’s substantial length (50 items), it is reasonable to assume that Stagner’s original exploratory study would have yielded satisfactory internal consistency for the period, provided the sample was relatively homogeneous.

The scale’s broad thematic coverage—combining economic, military, and political statements—suggests that it measures a cluster of related attitudes rather than a single pure construct. Researchers using this psychological scale in subsequent decades typically calculated reliability metrics appropriate for their specific populations, often finding that different clusters of items demonstrated varying levels of internal consistency.

Factor Analysis

Stagner’s initial work was primarily descriptive, focusing on the average scores and correlations with external variables rather than detailed factor structure. Subsequent factor analyses of the Fascist Attitudes Scale and similar measures from the era indicate that the 50 items are not unidimensional.

The scale tends to decompose into several distinct, yet correlated, factors. These latent factors often include a strong emphasis on **Military Preparedness and Discipline**, a factor concerning **Economic Isolationism and Anti-Immigration**, and a factor reflecting **Demand for Strong Executive Authority**. This multidimensionality underscores that “fascist attitudes” in the 1930s were perceived as a complex syndrome of responses to national instability.

Instrument

Test Type: Psychological Attitude Scale (Political Psychology)

Format: 50 items, True-False response.

Language Available: English (original).

Population Group: General population, initially tested on American university students and adults.

Age Group: Adults (Ages 18+).

Population Details: Highly specific to the socio-political and economic context of the United States during the Great Depression (1935–1936).

Test Methodology: Respondents indicate whether they believe each statement is True or False. Scoring involves summing the number of responses aligned with the fascist attitude orientation.

Keywords

Political attitudes, Authoritarianism, Stagner, 1936, Nativism, Economic protectionism, Social Psychology, Psychological measurement, Depression era.

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Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: N/A

Affiliation Email addresses: N/A

Correspondence Address: N/A

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

The Fascist Attitudes Scale was developed and published in 1936. Due to its age and academic history, it is generally considered available for non-commercial research and educational use, requiring appropriate citation of the original Stagner (1936) publication. No specific licensing fee is typically associated with its use in academic settings today.

Reference’s

• Stagner, R. (1936). Fascist attitudes: an exploratory study. Journal of Social Psychology, 6, 309-319.

• Robinson, John P., Shaver, Phillip R. (1969). Measures of Political Attitudes. Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan. Ann Arbor, Michigan.

The original PDF of the instrument can be downloaded here: https://www.psc.isr.umich.edu/dis/infoserv/isrpub/pdf/Measuresofsocialpsychologicalattitudes_2928_.PDF

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Items of the Fascist Attitudes Scale

IMPORTANT: The following scale items must be preserved in their original language and must not be changed in any way.

1. Conditions are likely to get better in 1935.

2. The farmers have been hit harder than the city workers.

3. Recovery has been delayed by the large number of strikes.

4. The U.S. should stop immigration to give American workers more jobs.

5. The depression has caused an increase in crime.

6. This country should try to get more foreign markets so as to increase prosperity.

7. What we need is a strong president who will make people cooperate for recovery.

8. If we buy European made goods, we make the depression in this country last longer.

9. Many workers have been unemployed for five years through no fault of their own.

10. Recognition of Soviet Russia was a big mistake.

11. Building a bigger navy would give men jobs and protect our foreign markets, so that should be done.

12. Most labor trouble happens only because of radical agitators.

13. The unemployed should be given military training so our country could be protected in time of war.

14. Capital and labor should get together for a fair wage and a fair profit.

15. The sales tax is an unfair way of raising relief money.

16. The people who complain most about the depression wouldn’t take a job if you gave it to them.

17. We must all sacrifice a little to build a strong American nation.

18. The president was all right until he became influenced by communistic ideals.

19. What we need is more international cooperation, not less.

20. Prosperity would come back if we could show businessmen that they could invest money at a profit.

21. Any able-bodied man could get a job right now if he tried hard enough.

22. Munitions makers probably don’t have near as much to do with starting wars as the papers claim.

23. Most people on relief are living in reasonable comfort.

24. We must protect our trade in the Philippines against the Japanese.

25. Italy has taken the wrong way out of the depression.

26. We will always have depressions.

27. The government must first balance the budget.

28. CCC camps where the boys learned military discipline and self-control would be a good idea.

29. The average person isn’t intelligent enough to vote his way out of the depression.

30. The president was justified in protecting U. S. interests in Cuba.

31. Inflation would solve most of the problems of the depression.

32. There is no excuse for depressions.

33. The formation of big trusts bankrupted many small businesses and so brought on the depression.

34. Labor un‎ions are all right, but we can’t have strikes.

35. The Wall Street bankers brought on the depression to clean up on the little fellows.

36. I f we had stayed out of the World War, we would never have had this depression.

37. The U. S. should make these European countries pay off their war debts.

38. We’d get out of the depression quicker if we had a strong intelligent man with full power to run things.

39. I f the government didn’t meddle so much with business everything would work out all right.

40. We should consider our duty to our country first in this time of crisis.

41. The collapse in 1929 was due primarily to overproduction.

42. While raising the standard of living we must safeguard property right s as guaranteed by the Constitution.

43. Unemployment insurance would saddle us with a nation of idlers.

44. America has plenty of plans–what it needs is strong men who are willing to work for recovery.

45. If we have unemployment; we should deport the excess workers back to their home countries.

46. These unemployed organizations are just a bunch of chronic complainers.

47. The NRA would have worked if so many strikes hadn’t been organized.

48. People should not be allowed to vote unless they are educated and intelligent.

49. The U. S. ought to demand its fair share of trade with China.

50. What we need is more businesslike government.

True – False