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
Results 1-5 of 32
... sentiments in a variety of personal and national settings ; mythological dimensions of antisemitism and apocalyptic doc- trines ; specific antisemitic myths , including pre - Christian , early and medieval Christian , " racial " and ...
... sentiments and active persecution to eco- nomic and political rivalry , to opportunism , to the struggle for resources , for power , and for status . Salo W. Baron , the doyen of Jewish historical scholarship , attributed antisemitism ...
... sentiments of non - Jewish patients who were not clearly antisemitic . We assumed that they might think about the subject somewhat differently from the Jewish analysts . We were privileged also to have as a regular participant ...
... sentiments vary on a continuum and even if it were possible to devise a measure of such prejudice , it is clear that we would find no natural break in that continuum . The problem is complicated further by two additional issues . First ...
... 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 of Israeli behavior of which he disapproves , such as the 1982 incursion into ...
Contents
3 | |
Study of Clinical Data | 43 |
Mythology | 63 |
Antisemitic Myths | 95 |
The Pogrom Mentality | 151 |
Conclusions | 175 |
Bibliography | 181 |
Index | 187 |