Rise and fall in the Third Reich: Social mobility and Nazi membership

Arbeitspapier

This paper explores the relationship between Nazi membership and social mobility using a unique and highly detailed dataset of military conscripts and volunteers during the Third Reich. We find that membership of a Nazi organisation is positively related to social mobility when measured by the difference between fathers' and sons' occupations. This relationship is stronger for the more 'elite' NS organisations, the NSDAP and the SS. However, we find that this observed difference in upward mobility is driven by individuals with different characteristics self-selecting into these organisations, rather than from a direct reward to membership. These results are confirmed by a series of robustness tests. In addition, we employ our highly-detailed dataset to explore the determinants of Nazi membership. We find that NS membership is associated with higher socio-economic background and human capital levels.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: QUCEH Working Paper Series ; No. 2017-04

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Job, Occupational, and Intergenerational Mobility; Promotion ; Economic History: Financial Markets and Institutions: Europe: 1913- ; Economic History: Government, War, Law, International Relations, and Regulation: Europe: 1913- ; Capitalist Systems: Political Economy
• Subject: National Socialism ; Third Reich ; Social Mobility ; Nazi Membership ; Second World War ; Political Economy ; Germany ; Economic History

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Blum, Matthias ; De Bromhead, Alan
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Queen's University Centre for Economic History (QUCEH)
• (where): Belfast
• (when): 2017

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/157273
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:44 AM CET