10 Characteristics of Fascism-Nazism, Capitalism and Social Humanism

10 Characteristics of Fascism-Nazism 

1.- Nationalism. Defense of the nation as unity and superiority.

2.- The State is the sole guarantor of order and the sole authority. It opposes capitalism (rejects the value of individual freedom) and communism (rejects the principle of class struggle and the demands of the proletariat).

3.- It promotes corporatism, the subordination of all economic and labor interests to the dictates of a single union that receives its orders directly from the government.

4.- Racism. The Aryan race is superior to all others, which led to the persecution and extermination of other ethnic groups, especially Jews and Roma.

5.- Personalism. The cult of the leader's personality requires a single voice (a plurality of ideas is uncomfortable). Education and the media foster the cult of the leader's personality and single idea.

6.- Authoritarianism. Political actors must subordinate themselves to official lines of thought and practices promoted by the State. 

7.- Militarism. To enable the exercise of totalitarian authority, fascism strengthens the military and promotes all its symbols, fostering both fear and the cult of violent authority.

8.- Totalitarianism. The state dominates all areas of public and private life, exercising strict controls in all spheres.

9.- Illegalization of the opposition. All opposition is illegal and punished accordingly.

10.- Control of the media and education. 

10 characteristics of capitalism 

1.- Defends private ownership of the means of production.

2.- Considers capital as the source of wealth.

3.- Generates its own social classes.

4.- Allows for social mobility.

5.- Promotes freedom of enterprise and association.

6.- Defends the free market.

7.- Is based on the law of supply and demand.

8.- Promotes competition.

9.- Recognizes the freedom to work.

10.- Advocates minimal state interference.

10 characteristics of Social Humanism 

1.- They consider human beings as natural beings and not as God's creations. They move from Theocentrism to anthropocentrism.

2.- They question and fall the prevailing dogmatic medieval way of thinking. Thus, reason replaces faith and science/philosophy replaces theology.

3.- They take classical thought as their reference, and all humanist philosophy represents a return to Greece and Rome.

4.- Humanism was born in Italy, primarily in Venice, Rome, and Florence, but spread rapidly throughout Europe.

5.- The printing press and the emergence of academic centers and universities contributed greatly to its expansion.

6.- The production of works in vernacular languages (Petrarch, Dante, and Boccaccio), making knowledge more accessible to the majority of the population.

7.- The development and study of art.

8.- They exacerbated the sexual and sensual condition of women, contrasting with the virginal images of the Middle Ages.

9.- The scientific revolution and the spread of rational thought promoted the development of the scientific method and the scientific revolution.

10.- Access to education was expanded to sectors of the population that had previously been denied access.

Exercises: You can answer truthfully, but if you want, you can avoid telling anyone; just tell yourself.

1. How many characteristics do you share with the fascist-Nazi model and what are they (just indicate the number)? And with the capitalist model? And with the humanist-social model?

2. Given the characteristics of the three models and knowing your own, which of the three models do you identify with the most?