Citation

Berntson MA, Ault B. Am. Behav. Sci. 1998; 41(9): 1193-1218.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1998, SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/0002764298041009003

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Women have always been part of the national project, yet research on political participation is just beginning to theorize about women's involvement in extremist politics. This project examines women's participation in the pre-1933 Nazi Party (NSDAP) by using (a) an interest-based theoretical model of participation that stresses the importance of material interests and incentives and (b) an expanded interest-based model that incorporates social-psychological incentives and those embedded in social ties to the NSDAP. Quantitative and qualitative analyses on three sources of historical data show support for both models but greater support for the expanded interest-based model. Social-psychological incentives and those embedded in women's social ties to the NSDAP strongly affected women's decisions to join the party. Further research on contemporary cases of women's participation in far Right politics would provide a better test of the models, as well as models that examine how identities shape interests and political behavior.