One Hoffer points out is the poor. Not just the poor in general, the so called "new poor." The new poor have the memory of better things. It almost burns like fire in their veins, the taste of a better life still in their mouth. Hoffer goes on to say that the western world feels that unemployment is a degradation. The poor see themselves as disinherited and injured by an unjust world, and are willing to listen to who call for a new deal or mass movement. .
Again this seems very true to me. Someone who has just become a poor person is going to be so depressed and ready to do anything to reach a higher level of financial standing. The new poor still have the images of not being poor and in fact have the images of doing ok in life, not struggling. These images of what they had cause a great pain inside them. They will do almost anything not to be poor again. Even if it means to join a mass movement. The movement is a hope to get out of their financial problems.
It almost seems that a mass movement is custom made for a criminal, or sinner. Hoffer explains" "It is a strange thing that both the injurer and the injured, the sinner and he who is sinned upon, should find in the mass movement an escape from a blemished life." he also says that remorse and grievance seem to drive people in the same direction. "Crime is to some extent a substitute for a mass movement." Hoffer later explains. It has been observed that the common crime level decreases when a mass movement is in effect.
The mass movement is just what a criminal would want to join. It gives the criminal a sense of self worth. They may think that they are doing something for a cause and they tend to forget the wrong they have done in the past. The criminals have no need to commit the crimes because the mass movement is giving their lives some meaning. Or maybe the mass movement just gives the criminals an excuse for doing their crimes.