Rigid conventionalism was theorized as the motivational basis of anti-Semitism

Evidence

For example, when it was discovered that the anti-Semitic individual objects to Jews on the ground that they violate conventional moral values, one interpretation was that this individual had a particularly strong and rigid adherence to conventional values, and that this general disposition in his personality provided some of the motivational basis for anti-Semitism, and at the same time expressed itself in other ways, e.g., in a general tendency to look down on and to punish those who were believed to be violating conventional values. This interpretation was supported by results from the E and PEC scales, where it was shown that items expressive of conventionalism were associated with more manifest forms of prejudice. Accordingly, therefore, adherence to conventional values came to be thought of as a variable in the personsomething which could be approached by means of scale items of the F type and shown to be related functionally to various manifestations of prejudice. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 1773

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: The Berkeley group explained anti-Semitism through personality structure interacting with external factors — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 1522; Early authoritarian personality research hoped to blame anti-Semitism on deviants — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 1594

Broader Connections

• The Berkeley group explained anti-Semitism through personality structure interacting with external factors #expands (0.80) — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 1522
• Early authoritarian personality research hoped to blame anti-Semitism on deviants #expands (0.75) — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 1594