The Fun of Fundamentalism
One of the key points of the Frankfurt School was to incorporate depth psy-
chology into the critique of domination. Specifically, the emotional allure of
fascism and the power of its propaganda depended on its resonance with
individual character structure, namely certain authoritarian character types
at particular class and or social locations, etc. While earlier theories of fun-
damentalism saw it as a typical reaction of the poorer and less educated to
marginality, downward mobility etc, it is now clear that many people, often
highly educated (in sciences and technology), can well experience alienation
and stress. In turn, they may and might embrace fundamentalisms of vari-
ous stripes.
Harman (2003) has identified four different class fragments prone to embrace
fundamentalism, starting with 1) the classical petty bourgeoisie of small
traders (bazaaris) and landowners, often clergy, who attempt to defend their
economic resources and self esteem against the larger forces of globalization.
2) Some elements of the newly rich, anxious in their new status, find secu-
rity in the embrace of Islam that disdains the secular socialism that might
emerge. 3) The rural poor, flocking to the cities, face poverty and alienation.
Lubeck and Britts (2001) note that these groups find solace and comfort in
fundamentalist mosques. Finally, 4), many members of the “new middle
class”, often sons of professionals, failing to find places in the new economy
commensurate with their levels of education, are not only likely to find com-
pensatory gratifications in fundamentalism, they are, moreover, most likely
to provide the activist cadres. For example, Muhammad Atta and the lead-
ers of the 9/11 attack were highly educated. But they were unable to find
work in Europe, let alone Accah, one of the poorest parts of Saudi Arabia.
Similarly, leaders such as Osama Bin Laden, Ayman al Zawahiri or Abu Musab
al-Zarqawi are generally from affluent, educated, privileged classes. In the
Palestinian struggles and Iraqi resistance, it is often the educated yet still
marginalized and powerless that opt for fundamentalism and then terrorism.
Moreover, such acts are not so much impelled by psychopathology or desires
for hatred and revenge, but rather a moral, ethical cause.^49
One of the most central contributions of the Frankfurt School was its volu-
minous studies on authoritarianism; specifically, how did the bourgeois author-
326 • Lauren Langman
(^49) See Clark McCauley’s analysis of the 9/11 perpetrators http://ideologiesofwar.
com/papers/cm_understanding.htm