Separation and Its Discontents: Towards an Evolutionary Theory of Anti-Semitism

747 Pages·2003·2.39 MB·English

by  Kevin MacDonald

Separation and Its Discontents
Toward an Evolutionary Theory of Anti-Semitism
by
Kevin B. MacDonald
2004
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Separation and Its Discontents
Toward an Evolutionary Theory of Anti-Semitism
Copyright © 2004 Kevin B. MacDonald
Published by 1st Books (2004)
Language: English
ISBN: 1-4107-9260-9 (ebook)
ISBN: 1-4107-9261-7 (ppbk)
Originally published by Praeger Publishers (Jan. 26th, 1998)
AuthorHouse (Nov. 13th, 2003)
MacDonald develops a theory of anti-Semitism based on an evolutionary interpretation
of social identity theory--a major approach to group conflict in contemporary social
psychology. Beginning in the ancient world, anti-Semitism has existed under a variety of
religious and political regimes. MacDonald explores several theoretically important
common themes of anti-Semitic writings such as Jewish clannishness and cultural
separatism, economic and cultural domination of gentiles, and the issue of loyalty to the
wider society.
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.
Contents
Preface to the First Paperback Edition
Psychological Mechanisms Of Ethnic Conflict
Social Identity Theory
Genetic Similarity Theory
Ethnic Groups Processed by a “Human Kinds” Module
Rational Choice Mechanisms
Conclusion: The Importance of Genetic Distance
Ethnic Conflict Can Pay: A Reply To Paul Rubin
The Costs of Immigration and the Benefits of Ethnic Conflict
Preface to the Praeger Edition
Overview
1. A Social Identity Theory of Anti-Semitism
An Evolutionary Interpretation of Social Identity Processes and Collectivism
2. Themes of Anti-Semitism
The Pervasiveness of Anti-Semitism
Themes Of Anti-Semitism
The Theme of Separatism and Clannishness
The Themes of Jewish Economic, Cultural and Political Domination
The Theme of Disloyalty
Factors Mitigating Anti-Semitism
3. Reactive Anti-Semitism in the Late Roman Empire
The Development Of Corporate Catholicism In The Late Roman Empire
4. Reactive Anti-Semitism in the Medieval Period
Reactive Racism In The Period Of The Iberian Inquisitions
5. National Socialism as an Anti-Jewish Group Evolutionary Strategy
German Anti-Semitic Ideologies As Ideologies Of Group Competition
Volkische Ideology And Attitudes Of Racial Superiority Among Jewish Intellectuals In The
Pre-National Socialist Period
Conclusion
National Socialism And Judaism As Mirror-Image Group Strategies
Common Threads in Western Anti-Semitism
Lack of Group-Based Competition as a Necessary Condition for Western Individualism
Egalitarianism and Western Group Strategies
6. Jewish Strategies for Combating Anti-Semitism
Jewish Strategies For Combating Anti-Semitism
Phenotypic Resemblance: Crypsis
Abandoning Phenotypic Characteristics that Provoke Gentile Hostility
Political Strategies for Minimizing Anti-Semitism
The Uses of Universalism
Strategies for Combating Anti-Semitism Focusing on Controlling Behavior within the
Jewish Community
7. Rationalization and Apologia: The Intellectual Construction of
Judaism
Historiography As Rationalization And Apologetics: The Construction Of Jewish History
Conclusion
Appendix: History And Apologia In The Construction Of The Events Surrounding The Iberian
Inquisitions
8. Self-Deception as an Aspect of Judaism as a Group Evolutionary
Strategy
9. Is Diaspora Judaism Ceasing to Be an Evolutionary Strategy?
Bibliography
Primary
Secondary
Preface to the First Paperback Edition
This is a reprint of the hardcover edition published originally in
1998 by Praeger, an imprint of Greenwood Publishing. The only
changes are changes in formatting and pagination.
There is little that I would like to change at this point. However,
there are two issues that merit further discussion: psychological
mechanisms of ethnic conflict and a reply to Paul Rubin. Rubin, an
academic economist, published some negative comments on the
ideas contained in Separation and Its Discontents in the journal
Politics and the Life Sciences (Rubin 2000). These issues are
discussed in the following. I am also continuing to publish material
relevant to other themes raised in this book: Jewish ethnocentrism
and self-deception (MacDonald 1998/2002; 2003a), the
effectiveness of Jewish activism (MacDonald 2003a), anti-
Semitism (MacDonald 2001, 2002a, 2002/2003), neo-conservatism
as a Jewish intellectual movement (MacDonald 2003b), and an
evolutionary perspective on Western culture (MacDonald 2002b).
Psychological Mechanisms Of Ethnic Conflict
Chapter 1 deals almost exclusively with social identity theory as a
way of understanding ethnic relations. I have come to think that
there are several mechanisms that are important; this Introduction
attempts to rectify this gap.
Ethnicity is not unique in calling for theoretical pluralism.
Pluralism of mechanisms devoted to solving the same adaptive
problem is common, especially, I suggest, for systems designed to
solve problems with very high potential costs or benefits to the
organism. For example, an adequate theory of aggression must
include universal adaptations whereby aggression is triggered in
specific contexts (e.g., sexual jealousy triggered by signs of
infidelity; threat to an ingroup; certain types of aversive
stimulation) (Berkowitz 1982; Buss 1999). However, we also need
theories that can account for sex differences, individual
differences, and group differences in aggression. These imply the
importance of genetic and environmental influences on a variety
of evolved systems, including temperament/personality systems
associated with aggression (sensation seeking, impulsivity, and
social dominance). Also implicated are emotionality (related to the
tendency to exhibit anger and irritability) and sociopathy (related
to the inability to experience the emotions of sympathy, empathy,
and love [MacDonald 1995a]). Finally, learning mechanisms, such
as being exposed to successful aggressive models, and cognitive
mechanisms (e.g., tendencies to over-attribute hostile intent) have
also been implicated in aggression (Coie & Dodge 1998).
The following discusses four systems underlying the
phenomenon of ethnic identity: social identity mechanisms,
genetic similarity theory, a racial/ethnic human kinds module, and
domain-general problem solving mechanisms.
Social Identity Theory
The first chapter of Separation and Its Discontents emphasized the
fundamental importance of social identity theory for
understanding ethnic conflict. I recently came across the following
quotation from William Graham Sumner who, writing in 1913,
expressed all of the essential ideas that have been verified by
modern psychology:
Loyalty to the group, sacrifice for it, hatred and contempt for outsiders, brotherhood
within, warlikeness without—all grow together, common products of the same
situation. It is sanctified by connection with religion. Men of an others-group are
outsiders with whose ancestors the ancestors of the we-group waged war…Each group
nourishes its own pride and vanity, boasts itself superior, exalts its own divinities, and
looks with contempt on outsiders. Each group thinks its own folkways the only right
ones, and if it observes that other groups have other folkways, these excite its scorn.
(Sumner 1906, 13)
As noted in Chapter 1, social identity research indicates that people
in threatened groups develop a psychological sense of shared fate.
The fact that social identity mechanisms appear to be highly
sensitive to the presence of external threat to the group is
compatible with supposing that people continue to track
individual self-interest; in the absence of threat people are more
individualistic, and in times of threat, group and individual
interests increasingly coincide and group members increasingly
have a shared fate.
Shared fate in human groups is likely to occur during situations
such as military conflicts and other examples of intense between-
group competition in which defection is not individually
advantageous or is not an option at all. In attempting to develop an
evolutionary scenario for these processes, I suggest that warfare is
the most likely candidate to meet these conditions. Warfare