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 26
... racial purity , but it is important to note that his exemplar of racial purity is the Jews , and especially the Sephardic Jews . Chamberlain regarded the Jews as having pre- served their racial purity over the millennia - a point of ...
... race and places a high value on racial purity , and even views Jews as a racially superior group , the best strategy is to assume the worst about most Jews . Gentiles should prevent the error of rejecting the proposition " Jews are an ...
... race with distinctive physical features and had retained their racial purity over four thousand years . Another contributor argued that this racial distinctiveness precluded assimilation : " Those who demand assimilation of us either do ...
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 |