The movement developed in the aftermath of the Panic of 1873 that led to a recession in the United States and parts of the western European economy.

It assailed Jews and capitalism; along with this critique it opposed liberalism, and it represented a fear of social democracy.

Finally, the movement came out of a racial conception of national identity on the part of the German middle class.

The journalist and author Otto Glagau led a journal, Der Kulturkämpfer, [The Culture Warrior] that propagated these ideas.

The Lutheran theologian and politician, Adolf Stoecker, led the Christian Social Party.