Self-definition through exclusion restores self-respect to atomized individuals

Evidence

Nazi propaganda was ingenious enough to transform antisemitism into a principle of self-definition, and thus to eliminate it from the fluctuations of mere opinion. It used the persuasion of mass demagogy only as a preparatory step and never overestimated its lasting influence, whether in oratory or in print. This gave the masses of atomized, undefinable, unstable and futile individuals a means of self-definition and identification which not only restored some of the self-respect they had formerly derived from their function in society, but also created a kind of spurious stability which made them better candidates for an organization. — Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 836

Categorization

• XREF: Core mechanism for the Islamophobia toolkit: how identity politics of exclusion recruits atomized subjects by granting spurious stability and self-worth. — connects to: Possession defends the self against the Other’s power to define it; Rejecting a powerful person’s advances can be an act of principled self-respect. — Dolores DeLuce, Blow Jobs: A Guide to Making It in Show…, 231; All social objectivity is grounded on an originary exclusion — Chantal Mouffe, The Democratic Paradox, 61 (+2 more)
• DEEPTHINKING: This is the mechanism by which exclusionary identity becomes psychologically productive for the excluded-turned-included — a dense, paradigm-shifting insight about how movements recruit.