[chrononaut]

This reminds me of the German-produced movie 'Die Welle', or 'The Wave'.[0] It demonstrates the creation and execution of some of these dynamics and how individuals may be susceptible to strong leaders even though their ideals and morals differ. It can be found on Netflix and I recommend it to anyone who found the article interesting.

[0] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1063669/

[jacquesm]

I'd rather recommend the original, 'The Wave', from 1981.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Third_Wave

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083316/

I saw this in school as a 17 year old and it has never left me, I keep recommending this movie to people. Especially with the re-surgence of the nationalist movement in Europe (and elsewhere) this is as relevant as it ever was.

[gamegoblin]

I second the film recommendation. It's a very well made, and very heavy film. In addition, to anyone hearing about it for the first time, it's based on the real life social experiment: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Third_Wave

[dantheman]

Which was made into a 40 minute film: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICng-KRxXJ8 called the wave