The phrase was initially closely associated with Christianity, but in the eighteenth century its usage extended to secular contexts.
In modern usage, the term is often used to label excessively strict authority and discipline,[1] and is particularly associated with the ideologies of National Socialism.
[2] The term Zucht und Ordnung is attested in German from at least the fifteenth century, when it might be translated as 'Christian discipline and order'.
[8] In this context, the word Zucht is partly used in its etymological meaning 'human-influenced development of species' (in this case the master race, giving a sense along the lines of 'breeding and order'), and partly in the sense of 'education' as conceived in National Socialist ideology, specifically promoting loyalty (Gefolgschaft).
For example, the quarterly magazine Zucht und Ordnung (Z & O), targeted at gay practitioners of erotic spanking, ran from the mid-1980s to the end of 1995 in Germany.