Jews’ partial conformity to middle-class norms fueled antisemitic resentment.

Evidence

At the same time, for all their successful economic conquests, middle class Jews retained certain hallmarks of non-conformity that set them off from other members of that same middle class. From ghetto times on, while willing to use every means to gain individual achievement on the ladder of economic and social success, they continued to respect specific Jewish ethical and religious valuessuch as learning, intellectual achievement, social betterment and the `things of the spirit’; in consequence they never completely accepted stable patterns of economic activities or the standards of social behavior customary to their social setting. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 1540

Categorization

• XREF: The tension between economic integration and cultural non-conformity anticipates the Frankfurt School’s later analysis in Dialectic of Enlightenment of the ‘non-identity’ of Jews with the prevailing order. — connects to: Anti-Semitic rage targets those who appear to enjoy happiness the masses were denied. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 1429; Perceived Jewish weakness itself was seen as a key driver of anti-Semitic violence. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 1512; Jews’ state-loan role fused lower-middle-class resentment with politics — Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 145 (+7 more)

Broader Connections

• Jews’ state-loan role fused lower-middle-class resentment with politics #expands (0.85) — Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 145
• Petty bourgeois resentment blamed Jews for the competitive system that displaced them #expands (0.82) — Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 142
• Economic precarity of the lower middle class fueled sudden antisemitism #expands (0.80) — Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 141
• Conflating capitalism with Jews made anti-capitalist hostility emotionally anchorable #expands (0.80) — Zygmunt Bauman, Modernity and the Holocaust, 146
• Jewish banking ties to state loans turned class resentment into political antisemitism #corroborates (0.78)
• Antisemitism among the lower middle class arose from fear of proletarianization #expands (0.78)
• Antisemitic demagoguery found its natural audience in the lower middle class #expands (0.75) — Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 139