Weak identity and uncertainty make anti-Semitic ideas easy to adopt and spread

Evidence

Dynamic social impact theory (Latane & Bourgeois, 2001) can help to explain how both the ideas of Volk and anti-Semitic sentiments spread throughout the German population. During times of a weak German identity and high uncertainty, such ideas were easy to entertain for much of the population, and they eventually spread throughout much of the culture. The fact that learned philosophers and religious leaders also espoused these anti-Semitic beliefs most likely enhanced their persuasive strength. — Leonard S. Newman and Ralph Erber (eds.), Understanding Genocide, 947

Categorization

• XREF: Causal antecedent for the scapegoating chain: uncertainty-driven adoption of shared anti-Semitic representations, which then licenses targeting. — connects to: Ambivalence and ambiguity explain antisemitic othering better than antisemitism does — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 520; Anti-Semitism emerged from group-identity processes and hardened into shared social representations. — Leonard S. Newman and Ralph Erber (eds.), Understanding Genocide: The Social…, 956; Antisemitic demagoguery found its natural audience in the lower middle class — Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 139
• SEED: Esssay angle: why elite endorsement, not fringe propaganda, is the load-bearing variable in mass ideological spread.

Broader Connections

• Anti-Semitism emerged from group-identity processes and hardened into shared social representations. #corroborates (0.90) — Leonard S. Newman and Ralph Erber (eds.), Understanding Genocide, 956
• Ambivalence and ambiguity explain antisemitic othering better than antisemitism does #expands (0.85) — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 520
• Antisemitic demagoguery found its natural audience in the lower middle class #complicates (0.75) — Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 139