Understanding Leaders of Social Movements

and The Persuasion

Strategies Employed By Them:

By Maral Cavner

A Comparison Between Adolf

Hitler and Mahatma Gandhi

The Three Types of Leadership - Democratic

• What is a democratic leader?o A democratic leader is “concerned about the task getting done, group

identity, and group satisfaction,” and would rank highly on both the personality and task dimensions of leadership (Dudash-Buskirk, Jan. 2015).

• What are the advantages of having a democratic leader?o This is the most desirable type of leader in that their wishes for group

identity, group satisfaction, and completion of the task done are equally balanced when dealing with a membership that is large enough to be representative of a social movement.

• What are the disadvantages of having a democratic leader?o In life there will rarely be complete agreement amongst everyone and, as a

result of this fact of life, sacrifices to any one of these values and goals (group identity, group satisfaction, and completing the task) may very well need to be made in order for the social movement to not be in permanent stalemate.

The Three Types of Leadership – Laissez

Faire• What is a laissez faire type of leader?

o A laissez faire type of leader is one that is concerned with group satisfaction and unity (the group staying together). A laissez faire leader would rank highly with regards to their personality, but less so with regards to their task oriented nature or ability given their great desire for universal group satisfaction.

• What are the advantages of having a laissez faire type of leader?o They are very focused on group unity and satisfaction.

• What are the disadvantages of having a laissez faire type of leader?o While everyone on some level desires to be well-liked, this is nearly an

impossible feat, one that could very easily result in a laissez faire type of leader hindering, albeit likely not for malicious reasons, the forward progress of the social movement and the achievement of its goals.

The Three Types of Leadership – Authoritarian

• What is an authoritarian type of leader?o A leader who is very task oriented, but less focused on the group and

the opinions of others with regards themselves or their decision-making on behalf of the movement.

• What are the advantages of having an authoritarian leader?o This type of leader would be more polarizing than either the

democratic or laissez faire leader, but would have the advantage over the other two in terms of decisions being made at a quicker rate.

• What are the disadvantages of having an authoritarian leader?o The clear drawback of this faster decision-making made by an

authoritarian leader is that the decisions made might not always be representative of the wishes of the majority of the membership of the social movement.

How Do Leaders of Social Movements Become

Leaders?• Three primary ways:• 1) By being charismatic, which seems simple

enough, but is an incredibly important aspect to any and all social movements.

• The leader of a social movement, particularly the leader who acts in a spokesperson type role, becomes representative and symbolic of the movement itself.

• If a leader is not charismatic and able to use words and actions to inspire others’ devotion to their cause (social movement) then the movement’s chances of success both in terms of gaining and retaining membership and overall achievement of goals are greatly decreased.

How Do Leaders of Social Movements Become

Leaders?• 2) An individual can become a social movement leader

through prophecy. • A standout example of a social movement leader whose

ability to lead came (at least partly) through prophecy is Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Dr. King advocated for change and prophesized about what was to come most notably in his “I have a dream speech” delivered at the Lincoln Memorial in 1963.

• This speech inspired hundreds of thousands of individuals to stand up for basic human rights, whether they themselves were personally subjected to discrimination or not. Dr. King’s speech is easily one of the most recognizable speeches given to this date and is a clear example of the power and influence a prophetic style of leadership can wield over a nation.

How Do Leaders of Social Movements Become

Leaders?

• 3) The third way one becomes a social movement leader, by pragmatically being in the position to do so, is based on the realities of life:

• A person who has the resources, most notably of which are time and monetary stability and/or affluence, which allow them to devote themselves to the social movement.

Social Movement Leader #1: Adolf

Hitler• Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician who

was the leader of the Nazi Party. • Hitler was the Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945

and Fuhrer (leader) of Nazi Germany from 1934 to 1945. • While his official titles were “chancellor” and “Fuhrer” in

all purposes Hitler was a dictator of Nazi Germany, living and acting as one.

• Hitler’s style of leadership would thus be considered authoritarian. He was incredibly task oriented, despite the obvious moral boundaries he crossed in his pursuit of his goals for Germany: the elimination of Jewish people and the establishment of a new world order to right the (perceived) wrongs that emerged after the conclusion of World War I.

How Did Hitler Become a Social

Movement Leader?• Hitler’s charisma in front of a large audience was

notably inspiring to a significant amount of people.

• A member of the Hitler Youth, Alfons Heck, explained Hitler’s charisma by saying that in a reaction of one of Hitler’s speeches,

• “We erupted into a frenzy of nationalistic pride that bordered on hysteria. For minutes on end, we shouted at the top of our lungs, with tears streaming down our faces: Sieg Heil, Sieg Heil, Sieg Heil! From that moment on, I belonged to Adolf Hitler body and soul” (Sisson, 2014).

How Did Hitler Become a Social Movement Leader?

(Continued)• While Hitler never gave a speech as clearly prophetic as Dr.

King’s “I have a dream” speech, in his desire to establish a new world order there were undeniably prophetic elements about the “better” world to come. This desire on the part of Hitler and the Nazi party to establish a new world order, one that was as equally horrific as it was revolutionary, sought to replace current ways of thinking and doing, thus making this social movement spearheaded by Hitler revolutionary in nature.

• Lastly, Hitler was pragmatically able to lead the Nazi Party in Germany. Hitler was a decorated World War I veteran and thus in a position of influence and power that allowed him the ability to promote his (horrible) agendas and gain the resources to continue to do so through his ever-increasing popularity in the 1920s and 1930s.

Social Movement Leader #2: Mahatma

Gandhi• Gandhi was, and remains in memory, the world-

renowned leader of the Indian Independence Movement in formerly British ruled India.

• Gandhi differentiated himself from Hitler in a variety of important ways, but chiefly among them is Gandhi’s employment of nonviolent civil disobedience, which set the precedent that other social movement leaders, notably Dr. Martin Luther King Junior, would later adopt as their own and adhere to.

• Gandhi was concerned with completion of the task and goals at hand, group identity, and satisfaction and thus ranks highly on both the personality and task scales of measurement typifying a democratic leader.

How Did Gandhi Become a Social Movement Leader?

• Gandhi, like Hitler, was a charismatic and inspiring speaker, but in a much more humble, but not less impassioned manner of doing so.

• As the author Sara Lloyd-Hughes, who has written extensively on Gandhi’s public speaking put it,

How Did Gandhi Become a Social Movement Leader? (Continued)

• “People followed him, even when they did not see his point or grasp its significance. Examples of this are easy to find. Gandhi addressed a public meeting on the sands of the river Kathjori in Cuttack, and he spoke in Hindi (rather Hindustani, as he called it). Thousands attended the meeting, it is reported, and it is unlikely that the whole audience understood what he was saying. He reached his audience with passion and even though his was the voice of quiet certainty, it reverberated loudly in the hearts of his audiences” (Lloyd, 2013).

How Did Gandhi Become a Social Movement Leader?

(Continued)• Gandhi spoke of the ability and trust that a higher power had

placed in him and the work he and his fellow group members were doing, as well as what tragedies would occur were they to not use their given talents for the betterment of their society.

• Gandhi was also pragmatically able to step into a role of leadership in the social movement. Gandhi was trained as a barrister in his younger years and spent twenty-one years in South Africa working as a legal representative for the Muslim Indian Traders during which time he developed his ethics, political views, and leadership skills.

• His extensive skill set and network of contacts from his many years in the political arena, coupled with his ability to completely relate to the plight of others suffering under the conditions of the time, made Gandhi a natural choice for the leader of the Indian Independence Movement.

Hitler and Gandhi - Two Very Different Social Movement

Leaders• Despite somewhat similar circumstances in how they

became social movement leaders and the shared ability to posses a platform from which to shape the use of language for their cause, Adolf Hitler and Mahatma Gandhi are representative of two very different social leaders. Despite their similarities in terms of shared language strategies (identification, polarization, and power), the key question of what is the difference between these two prominent social leaders from the 1900s remains.

• The answer: the ends to which Hitler and Gandhi used their abilities, circumstances, and strategies related to conflicts of the time period.

Hitler and Gandhi - Two Very Different Social Movement

Leaders• One actively encouraged the use of violence against innocents,

while the other refused to partake in it, despite being personally subjected to it himself.

• One promoted a message of violence and hate, while the other preached a message of tolerance and understanding, even when it was not reciprocated.

• One used his abilities, circumstances, and strategies for evil discriminatory reasons and for his own personal gain, while the other used them for the benefit of all persons.

• In the Chinese language the character for the word “conflict” is made up of two different symbols: one that indicates danger whereas the other indicates opportunity. While social movements are not without either danger or opportunity, Mahatma Gandhi, unlike Adolf Hitler, took the opportunity to make strides towards a more equitable, kind, and understanding world for all people. We can only hope that more people will chose to do the same.

References• Dudash-Buskirk, Elizabeth A. "COM 566/660: Class Lecture by Dr. Dudash-

Buskirk.” Persuasion Theory. Missouri State University, Springfield. 13 Jan. 2015. Lecture.

• Dudash-Buskirk, Elizabeth A. "COM 566/660: Class Lecture by Dr. Dudash-Buskirk.” Persuasion Theory. Missouri State University, Springfield. 24 Feb. 2015. Lecture.

• Hitler, Adolf. "Adolf Hitler Quotations About the Jews - Quotes from Mein Kampf." Adolf Hitler about the Jews - Quotes from Mein Kampf. Jewish Upps, n.d. Web. 9 Apr. 2015. <http://www.mosaisk.com/auschwitz/Adolf-Hitler-about-the-Jews.php>. Website

• Lloyd-Hughes, Sara. "Be the Change - Public Speaking Lessons from Gandhi." Ginger Public Speaking. N.p., 15 Feb. 2013. Web. 12 Apr. 2015. <http://www.gingerpublicspeaking.com/gandhi-public-speaking-be-the-chang>. Website

• "The Quit India Speech - 1942." The Quit India Speech by Mahatma Gandhi. Word Power – An Educational Resource, 2002. Web. 12 Apr. 2015. <http://www.wordpower.ws/speeches/gandhi-quit-india.html>. Website

• Sisson, Edward H. America The Great. EHS Publishing, 2014. 709. Print.• Stewart, Charles J., Craig Allen Smith, and Robert E. Denton. Persuasion

and Social Movements. 6th ed. Prospect Heights, IL: Waveland, 2012. Print. Book