Myth and Madness: The Psychodynamics of AntisemitismThe persistence of anti-Semitism and its current resurgence after a brief post-Holocaust suppression, challenge those who study human behavior to locate the causal bases of anti-Semitism and find approaches to combat it. This is an astonishing report of a nine-year study of the psychodynamics of anti-Semitism. Undertaken by Dr. Mortimer Ostow on behalf of the Psychoanalytic Research and Development Fund, it puts flesh and bones on the discussion of antisemitism in Sigmund Freud's 1939 classic theoretical study "Moses and Monotheism. "Its close adherence to case material, and application of psychoanalytic theory to historical data and cultural products, yields new insights into bigotry and equity alike. By examining prejudiced patients and their myths, Dr. Ostow shows the common threads of anti-Semitism in a variety of national and cultural settings, even under supposed optimal conditions when antisemitism is stringently controlled. The work uses the psychiatric approach, and can be read as a study of how this area of behavioral science reveals the interplay of the individual and the group, cultural background and material opportunities. The book is divided into five major segments: Psychoanalytic interpretation of anti-Semitism in the past; clinical data on anti-Semitic sentiments in a variety of personal and national settings; mythological dimensions of anti-Semitism and apocalyptic doctrines; specific anti-Semitic myths including pre-Christian early and medieval Christian, "racial" and post-modern Muslim anti-Semitism. The final segment focuses on the pogrom mentality, including the Nazi phenomenon, antisemitic fundamentalism, and black anti-Semitism. "Myth and Madness "is informed by an amazing breadth of learning: from biblical exegesis to modern sociology, from close attention to mundane patients to evaluating mythic claims of the loftiest, and at times most dangerous sort. This is a landmark effort--one that will be the touchstone for theoretical and clinical works to come. |
From inside the book
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... and leader , Yosef H. Yerushalmi , and to the memory of my close friend and teacher , Gerson D. Cohen , an extraordinary scholar and heroic Jew . Contents Foreword Participants Introduction 1. The Project , its Background.
... be regarded , although it was begun in the 1920s , as having been inspired and directed towards the gathering Holocaust . In fact , a friend of mine , a distinguished The Project , its Background , and its Presuppositions 5.
... friend came to this con- clusion , he was not aware of the discussion of Sombart's book that had taken place at the meeting of the Wednesday evening Vienna Psycho- analytic Society in 1911 , as soon as the book appeared , with comments ...
... friends , who , if only because they harbor a sympathetic in- terest in Jews , are aware of differences ... friend , miffed by a Jew , momentarily finds himself thinking in stereotypes , but then when he realizes that he is doing so ...
... friends or at his antisemitic club , may permit himself to be co- opted by the sentiments of those around him . Or he may be pleased or angered by an experience with Jewish friends or associates or strangers . Or he may respond to news ...
Contents
3 | |
Study of Clinical Data | 43 |
Mythology | 63 |
Antisemitic Myths | 95 |
The Pogrom Mentality | 151 |
Conclusions | 175 |
Bibliography | 181 |
Index | 187 |