Antisemitic hatred peaked precisely when Jewish political importance declined

Evidence

The marginal status of the Jews in manufacturing as well as the political and military apparatus meant that they were, as a group, objectively irrelevant to imperialism. Yet it was during the height of imperialism that they began to be more than ever reviled for their alleged control over the economy and the politics of every Western state. Antisemites identified the Jews as a major noxious force just when their sociopolitical importance was objectively in decline. — Ivan Davidson Kalmar, Derek Penslar, Orientalism and the Jews, 134

Categorization

• XREF: Echoes Arendt’s argument about declining elites being hated once their usefulness waned, and parallels the general pattern of scapegoating at moments of objective irrelevance. — connects to: Antisemitism persisted even after its economic basis vanished — Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 527; Perceived Jewish weakness itself was seen as a key driver of anti-Semitic violence. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 1512; Anti-Semitic nativism survived and grew once its anti-radical trigger faded — John Higham, Strangers in the Land: Patterns of…, 1694 (+1 more)
• DEEPTHINKING: A genuinely counterintuitive inversion — hatred for power peaks when power objectively declines — dense enough to sit with.
• SEED: An essay angle: scapegoating as a lagging indicator, where social hatred tracks perceived threat rather than actual power.