Separation and Its Discontents: Toward an Evolutionary Theory of Anti-Semitism
Particular attention is paid to three major manifestations of Western anti-Semitism: the development of institutionalized anti-Semitism in the Roman Empire, the Iberian Inquisitions, and the phenomenon of Nazism. All of these movements exhibited a powerful gentile group cohesion in opposition to Judaism as a group strategy, and MacDonald argues that each may be analyzed as a reaction to the presence of Judaism as a highly successful group evolutionary strategy. Because of the repeated occurrence of anti-Semitism, Jews have developed a highly flexible array of strategies to minimize its effects. These include: crypsis during periods of persecution, controls on Jewish behavior likely to lead to anti-Semitism, and the manipulation of gentile attitudes toward Jews. This controversial work challenges prevailing views. Students and scholars involved with evolutionary approaches to human behavior and Jewish Studies will be interested, as will social scientists and historians in general. |
From inside the book
Results 1-3 of 44
... ingroup are exaggerated and dissimilarities with outgroup members are also exaggerated . An important result of this self - categorization process is that individuals adopt behavior and beliefs congruent with the stereotype of the ingroup ...
... ingroup are positively valued , while outgroup behavior and attitudes are negatively valued . The homogenization of the perceived characteristics of ingroups and outgroups has strong emotional overtones : people develop favor- able ...
... ingroup . This will be a major theme of Chapters 3-5 . Much remains to be done in attempting to develop an evolutionary perspec- tive on mechanisms of between - group competition . As is the case for many other psychological adaptations ...
Contents
THEMES OF ANTISEMITISM | 27 |
REACTIVE ANTISEMITISM IN | 89 |
THE MEDIEVAL PERIOD | 115 |
Copyright | |
6 other sections not shown
Other editions - View all
Separation and Its Discontents: Toward an Evolutionary Theory of Anti-Semitism Kevin MacDonald No preview available - 2003 |
Common terms and phrases
References to this book
Evolutionary Perspectives on Human Development Robert G. Burgess,Kevin MacDonald Limited preview - 2005 |