Jews were hated because they were secretly envied for embodying wealth without work
Evidence
The Jews were hated, Horkheimer and Adorno argued, because they were secretly envied. Having lost even their economic function as middlemen, they seemed to embody such enviable qualities as wealth without work, luck without power, a home without boundaries, and religion without a myth. — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination, 698
Categorization
- XREF: This is the core thesis of the ‘Elements of Anti-Semitism’ chapter of Dialectic of Enlightenment; connects to the next chapter Jay previews and to broader Frankfurt School theorizing of anti-Semitism as displaced envy. — connects to: Jews are hated because they embody a happiness the oppressed must deny themselves. — Theodor W. Adorno, Max Horkheimer, Dialectic of Enlightenment, 128; A society wholly commercialized condemns Jews as materialists it has itself become.; Jews drew hatred because they carried capitalism into pre-capitalist economies — Theodor W. Adorno, Max Horkheimer, Dialectic of Enlightenment, 132 (+3 more)
Broader Connections
- Eastern European Jews formed a middle class without productive functions
#expands(0.82) - Wealth without power attracts hatred because it lacks social function
#exemplifies(0.78) — Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 65