Political antisemitism and social discrimination arise from opposite emancipation aspects

Evidence

THE JEWS’ political ignorance, which fitted them so well for their special role and for taking roots in the state’s sphere of business, and their prejudices against the people and in favor of authority, which blinded them to the political dangers of antisemitism, caused them to be oversensitive toward all forms of social discrimination. It was difficult to see the decisive difference between political argument and mere antipathy when the two developed side by side. The point, however, is that they grew out of exactly opposite aspects of emancipation: political antisemitism developed because the Jews were a separate body, while social discrimination arose because of the growing equality of Jews with all other groups. — Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 187

Categorization

• DEFINE: Marks the key analytical distinction between political antisemitism (Jews as a separate body) and social discrimination (their growing equality) that Arendt’s whole argument turns on.