LAUSR

Tocqueville pioneered the view in 1835 that social capital — the productive value latent in social networks — is crucial for democracy, adding the caveat that it can become “a cause of destruction”. Recent political upsets and the increasing reach of social media have prompted a flurry of writing about the role of social networks in politics, from the circulation of biased news to the facilitation of revolutions. Using new data on the networks of clubs and associations in 229 German cities from the inter-war period matched to Nazi party membership data, Shanker Satyanath, Nico Voigtländer and Hans-Joachim Voth find that association density contributed to the rise of the Nazi party. Towns with denser networks had higher party entry rates — even after controlling for a host of socioeconomic variables and potential confounds — which in turn predicted electoral success. Crucially, this relationship was mitigated in stable federal states with functional institutions. These findings contrast with an earlier literature attributing the Nazi party to low civic engagement and increasingly isolated individuals. They also extend earlier work by showing that social capital can not only be designed by autocratic leaders as a control mechanism but can itself lead to undemocratic regimes. This study suggests that social capital can be used for good or ill depending on the political and institutional context. Although this is unique historical data documenting the role of physical organizations, its potential implications for our present circumstances should not be overlooked.