ABSTRACT
Not content to sabotage mass society in simply political terms, the fascists had to overturn what Norbert Elias seminally referred to as “the civilizing process:” a very long evolution in Western Europe which replaced the militaristic ethos of the nobility with the more peaceful habitus of the bourgeoisie. This was a development which stood in the way of the fascist project of military expansion, and which they needed to reverse culturally and ethically. In that respect, too, it is useful to recall the way Nietzsche attacked the peacefulness of the Last Humans, their reluctance to obey orders and march into war. Hence, with Elias, the discussion in the chapter foregrounds the consciously decivilizing spurt of fascism, and its effort to remilitarize culture and drill the masses into order and discipline. This general thesis is explored with regards to different aspects of mass society—such as mass consumption or “Americanism”—showing how the predominant culture, as it was before the fascists took power, could not be exploited by them without further ado, and had to be thoroughly transformed to fit their purposes. Against the association of fascism with consumerism, it is claimed that fascism embraced an ascetic worldview, chastising mass pleasures and subordinating them to militarism.
