)
This subject's readiness to discuss the interviewer's Jewishness is significant.
This subject's readiness to discuss the interviewer's Jewishness is significant.
Adorno-T-Authoritarian-Personality-Harper-Bros-1950
" By building up an image of the Jew out of traits which signify his failures in middle-class identification, the middle-class mem- ber is able subjectively to enhance the social status of his ingroup which is endangered by processes having nothing to do with ingroup-outgroup rela- tions.
To the middle-class anti-Semite, the Jew is likely to be regarded as the misfit bourgeois, as it were, he who did not succeed in living up to the stand- ards of today's American civilization and who is a kind of obsolete and un- comfortable remnant of the past.
The term "misfit" is actually applied to the Jew by some of our prejudiced subjects.
The less the Jew qualifies as a legiti- mate member of the middle classes, the more easily can he be excluded from a group which, in the wake of monopolization, tends toward the numerus clausus anyway.
If the usurper complex to be discussed in the section on politics and economics really belongs to an over-all pattern, the Jew func- tions, for the potentially fascist mentality, as the usurper par excellence.
He is the peddler, impudently disguised as a respectable citizen and businessman.
The most characteristic anti-Jewish remarks appearing in our interviews fall within this frame of thinking, although motifs of a more "proletarian" anti-Semitism, such as the idea of the Jewish exploiter or of the Jews dodging hard manual labor, are not lacking. The division between proletarian and
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middle-class anti-Semitism sh~uld not be exaggerated. The traits ascribed to Jews by working men have often the aspect of the "misfit bourgeois" too. What appear to the worker as symptoms of capitalist exploitiveness can easily be transformed by the middle classes into the reproach of dishonesty, a flagrant violation of bourgeois ethics, one of the main tenets of which is, after all, the praise of good honest labor. The stereotypes here in question transcend the frontiers of the classes; it is only their function that changes, and hence the difference in emphasis.
The construct of the "misfit bourgeois" can easily be articulated according to three major groups of motifs: first, that of Jewish weakness and its psycho- logical correlates, second, the middle-class identification of the Jews as an overcompensation that has essentially failed, third, the intrinsic disloyalty of the Jews to the class with which they vainly attempt to identify themselves, a disloyalty which is viewed as an expression of their abortive identification and of their nature as an objectionable, isolated, and "clannish" ingroup. The first two of these objections may have some basis in reality. There is consid- erable evidence, e. g. , the recent studies by Anton Lourie, of Jewish masochism and its basis in religious psychology. The third objection seems to be predominantly projective and one of the major rationalizations of the wish to "get rid of the whole bunch. "
The idea of Jewish weakness is epitomized by F114, a woman consistently high on all scales, who is a surgical nurse of partly Jewish descent:
"I have a cousin who was in love with me and wanted to marry me. He was more Jewish than I. I loved him, but wouldn't marry him. I told him why-because he's Jewish. He is no~ married to a Gentile with two children. He's more anti-Semitic than I. That's true of so many Jews-like they were lame or hunchback. They hate it or resent it. "
It is perhaps characteristic that such overt statements on Jewish weakness are made frequently either by persons who are themselves being identified with the Jews or-with a more positive accent-by low-scoring subjects. The prejudiced individual, whose hatred is stimulated by weakness, rather tends to stress, on the surface, the strength of the Jews who "wield undue influ- ence" and "own everything. " An example of the low-scorer's attitude to- wards Jewish weakness is the statement of 5055, an otherwise thoroughly liberal man of 73 years who scored low on all the scales. He feels
"that this protective philosophy of the Jews has led to a situation where they do stimulate antagonism in other people. "
In cases of extreme low scorers the awareness of Jewish weakness sometimes leads to identification: they assume the role of Jews themselves, consciously in order to antagonize anti-Semitic acquaintances, unconsciously, possibly, in order to atone for anti-Semitism by at least figuratively suffering the same
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humiliations under which they know the Jews live. Here belongs the case of a zo-year-old, somewhat neurotic interior decorator, 5028, who is in open rebellion against his father but strongly attached to his mother:
The subject and his sister are alike in that they both admire Jewish people. He told of jokes that they had played upon some of their father's relatives who are extremely anti-Semitic by pretending that a great grandfather on the maternal side was Jewish. The subject explained that many persons in his mother's family "look a little Jewish because they have long noses. " The paternal cousin to whom they were talking "almost committed suicide" at the thought, The subject volun- teered the comment that perhaps one reason he likes Jews is that he "has never known any who were objectionable,"
To the prejudiced person, the imagery of Jewish weakness, combined as it is with the rationalization of strength, sometimes strikes a peculiar note, remarkable because of its close harmony with one of the standard themes of American fascist agitators. It is the image of the Jewish refugee who is de- picted simultaneously as strong ("He takes the jobs away from our American boys") and as weak ("He is a dirty outcast"). There is reason enough to believe that the second motive is the decisive one. The high-scoring man Mzo5 makes the following statement:
"A lot of Jewish immigrants are coming to this country. They get a soft life, and they take over. You can't deal with one, and a lot of them are awful dirty, though they have money. "
Aggressiveness against the refugees comes to the fore even in cases which are otherwise, according to the interviewer, only mildly aqti-Semitic. 5036 is a jazz musician, at the present time drawing unemployment insurance. He is high onE and F, although lower on PEC.
Although he denies any outgroup antagonisms, many of these are implicit and at the surface level. He is most vehement in his belief that refugees should not assume citizenship and should be sent home when time and conditions permit it.
The psychological determination of this subject's hatred of the refugee competitors can be inferred the more safely since he acknowledges that
"There is no doubt that the Jews are talented in music. "
He sets against this only the vague standard accusation:
"but they are so clannish and aggressive and loud that sometimes I can't stand them. " On several occasions he claims that the aggressiveness and selfish demands of Jews within smaller bands he had tried to organize caused their failure. "These Jews would never really get a feeling of pride in the organization. They would always leave you the minute they had a better offer; and in trying to meet offers they had, I went broke twice. " On the other hand, he says some Jews are undoubtedly out- standingly cultured people.
The refugees, as those who are objectively weak, are regularly blamed for
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having a domineering attitude and a drive for power. While there may be some basis for the objection of aggressiveness in certain institutionalized Jewish reaction formations, such as the Jewish habit of "pleading," this stere- otype helps at the same time to alleviate the anti-Semite's discomfort about violating the principle of democratic asylum: it is not he but the fugitives who are supposed to disregard the rules of hospitality. 5043, a middle-aged housewife with extremely high scores on all the scales, alleges that the Jews
are loud and often aggressive. (Here she gave an example of women at the market who push themselves forward. ) She specifically distinguishes between "refugees" and other Jews and feels that the "type we have been getting in the neighborhood lately" is definitely clannish, unintelligent, and generally undesirable.
The stereotype of Jewish aggressiveness shows a characteristic of anti- Semitic thinking which deserves closer investigation. It is the mixing, in allegations against the Jews, of crudely physical acts of aggression with hy- potheses of a more psychological nature. Just as the idea of "Jewish blood" ranges from the fear of "pollution of the race," where the term blood is used only figuratively, to the hysteria of bodily "poisoning" inflicted by Jewish blood donors, the imagery of aggressiveness ranges from the J{:ws using their elbows when standing in a queue to their allegedly ruthless business practices. This suggests the retrogressive, "mythological" feature of some anti-Semi- tism. Mental dispositions are translated into physical reality both in order to soothe the fear of the incomprehensible "alien mentality" and to add a sense of the real to that which is actually only projective. This retranslation prob- ably throws some light on the over-all insistence of the anti-Semite on Jewish physical traits.
5067 "is a portly, rather maternal-looking woman who looks all of her forty-eight years. " She was chosen as a mixed case with high E and PEC. She does not differentiate at all between the physical and the psychological aspect of Jewish "aggressiveness":
"I do not like their coercive aggression in business. They are not only aggressive, but they should also be segregated. They are always pushing people aside. I noticed nearly every time when there was pushing in the innumerable lines we had to wait in during the war, it was a Jew who started the pushing. I feel a real revulsion towards Jews. "
In other cases, the idea of aggressiveness is used in the exclusively social sense of "intrusiveness. " Sometimes one gets a glimpse into the mechanism behind this standard reproach. It probably has to do with the all-pervasive feeling of social isolation, which is overcompensated for in innumerable middle-class "social activities. " Against this background of emotion the Jews, as the classic agents of circulation, are perceived and probably envied as those who are not isolated, but have "contacts" everywhere. This idea is closely associated with that of clannishness, which also implies the imagery
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of some kind of togetherness from which the members of the real ingroup
pretend to be excluded. The aforementioned Fzos finds the formula: "They seem to know everybody; they pull strings; they are like a clan, more
united than any race. They have friends everywhere who can do the right thing. "
Finally, it should be mentioned that there is some evidence in our material that the basis of the stereotype "aggressiveness" lies in repressed sexuality. The Jews are supposed to be unencumbered by the standards of Puritan morality, and the more strictly one adheres oneself to these standards, the more eagerly are the supposed sex habits of the Jews depicted as sordid. What goes uncensored in the case of Jewish "rich food" becomes intolerable in the sphere of supposedly uninhibited and therefore repulsive sensuality. Some insight into this matter is afforded by the 42-year-old woman, Fzz8, a public health nurse-a person, incidentally, whose outgroup hatred is focused on organized labor rather than on minorities and whose score on A-S is middle, while she scores high on PEC and F.
She could not imagine herself marrying a Jew. She then proceeded to relate that actually she once had an opportunity to marry a Jew. One time, when she returned home for the su? mmer after being in New York for a while, she met a very intel- ligent lawyer who worked in the same office as her brother. He was very well- educated and knew languages. She had dates with him and saw quite a lot of him for three weeks, until one day he said to her, "There is one thing I want to tell you about myself. You have never met my family and I had not intended that you should meet them. However, there is one thing that I want to ask you, and that is whether you would object to marrying a Jew? " She said that it was as if she had been struck a great blow. He did not look Jewish, his name was not Jewish, and he even sang in the choir of her church, so that she never suspected that he was Jewish. She just sat there without saying a word-and that was his answer. She then went on to add that it was very bad for him, because all the girls staying in her boarding house then found out that he was Jewish and it also became known at his place of work and made things bad for him there. Subject saw him again ten years later and felt that he did look more Jewish, but added that that was perhaps because she now knew that he was Jewish. The thing that is most impossible to her in the idea of marrying a Jew is the thought of bearing Jewish children.
It is noteworthy that the resistance of this woman was brought about only by her knowledge of the man's Jewish descent, not by any of his own charac- teristics. It is hardly going too far to assume that the stereotype has re-enacted old childhood taboos against sexuality and that it was only afterwards that these were turned against the Jew as an individual. Primary attraction is the basis for subsequent repulsion.
The close relations of the ubiquitous idea of clannishness to the reproach of aggressiveness has become obvious in previous examples. Suffice it to say here that clannishness appears as the justification for excluding the aggressive "intruder": he always "remains a Jew" and wants to cheat those by whom he wishes to be accepted. At the same time, the idea of clannishness consum-
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mates the imagery of Jewish. togetherness, of a warm, family-like, archaic and very "ingroup-like" texture of the outgroup which seems to be denied to those who are thoroughly formed by American civilization and obey the rules of technological rationality.
The underlying attractiveness of the Jewish "clan" is accentuated by the statement of Mzo2, a subject scoring high on all scales:
"The Jewish kids I knew in high school were the sons and daughters of the prominent Jewish businessmen, and they were very clannish. It's hard to say what ought to be done about it. It doesn't seem to bother them what people think. That is a natural characteristic. It doesn't do any good to try to exclude them from busi- ness because some of them are the smartest businessmen we have. Most of them are out of Germany by now, and I suppose they'll get back. Some are very crafty about sticking together and getting ahead in business, getting capital. People in Germany will feel the need of Jewish businessmen and they will pool their capital and make a start there. (\Vhat about Jewish women? ) Some of them are very attractive, and some are very clannish. They are dominated by the men; it's all in their creed. "
The more patriarchal structure of the Jewish family, whether it be real or imagined, seems to work as an element of sexual attraction. Jewish women are supposed "to do everything for men"-just what the Gentile American girl is expected not to do. At the same time, however, the idea of sexual ful- fillment tends to diminish, in American culture, the social value of the women who offer this fulfillment. Here again, the praise of one Jewish quality is prone to tilt over into its opposite.
How the idea of clannishness can sometimes obtain features of an obses- sion laden with violent resentment is shown in the case of F113, a young woman who is high on the E scale but somewhat lower on F and PEC. She is an attractive, somewhat neurotic girl of z6, a subject from the Extension Class group. She resents both Jewish names and those who dared to change them. When speaking about Jewish acquaintances, she makes a point of their owning "a chain of burlesque houses," being rich as well as somewhat dis- reputable. In her statement about Jewish family life, it is remarkable how closely some observations which have a ring of truth are knit together with somewhat paranoid ideas about the selfishness determining the Jewish be- havior in question and with a harsh evaluation of it as a "guilt":
"The worst experience with them I had was when I was overseas operator in Hawaii a couple of years ago. I had to monitor all the calls that went to New York so I listened to just thousands of conversations. And ninety percent of them were rich Jews calling up their families. That is the only really good thing I can say for them-their devotion to their families. But all purely selfish. The money they spent-and the time-on just purely selfish calls. (Business calls? ) Well I worked mostly at night. But the other girls said it was the same people making business calls during the day. (How did you know they were Jews? ) Their voices and the th~ngsthey said. Selfish. (Could there have been Jews you didn't recognize? ) I don't thmk so. You get so you always know a Jewish voice. "
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I. OBSERV A TIONS ON LOW-SCORING SUBJECTS
Throughout this chapter, we have concentrated on the phenomena of anti-Semitism and their structural interconnections. We have abstained from a detailed discussion of the minority attitudes of the non-anti-Semite and of the anti-anti-Semite. Obviously, it is more difficult and less promising to analyze the absence of highly specific opinions and attitudes than it is to deal with their existence. We have been able, it seems, in the study as a whole to draw a fairly complete picture of the low scorers, ranging from surface ideology to characterological determinants. Their general tendency to be disinterested in so-called racial questions, however, limits the supply of per- tinent information. Moreover, the pragmatic aspect of our study naturally requires a closer scrutiny of the danger zone than of areas which can be discounted as a potential for fascism. By and large, the attitudes of the high scorers suffice to define, e contrario, the attitudes of the "lows" which are, in many respects, set polemically against the anti-Semitic imagery prevailing in our cultural climate.
Yet a number of observations concerning the low scorers may be allowed, not only in order to round out the picture, but also because the low scorers, in their responses to questions about minorities, go beyond a simple negation of the prejudiced person's opinions and attitudes, and throw some additional light upon the nonfascist character.
An over-all characteristic of the low scorer's attitude towards Jews is emphatic rationality. This has a double aspect. On the one hand, the general tendency towards intraceptiveness so characteristic of low scorers expresses itself specifically in the racial area through self-reflection: anti:-Semitism presents itself to the low scorers as the problem of the anti-Semite, not of the Jew. On the other hand, racial problems and minority traits are viewed within historical and sociological perspective and thus seen to be open to rational insight and change, instead of being hypostatized in a rigidly irra- tional manner.
An example of self-reflection in racial matters is Mgzo, a student-minister, consistently low on all scales, who has strong intellectual leanings and, like most low scorers, a tendency toward hesitation, doubt, and qualifications of his own opinions. He traces back prejudice, in a plain-spoken though some- what primitive manner, to the difficulties of the minority haters, not to the object of their hatred:
(What do you feel are the causes of prejudice? ) "Probably the largest reason is the insecurity or fear of insecurity that the person has himself. The people in my community who have talked loudest about the Japs are the ones who have since taken over (the properties left by the Japanese) . . . and they're afraid they'll come back . . . and they're afraid of them as competitors because they work harder. . . . (You feel it's mainly an economic conflict? ) Well, it isn't altogether economic,
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and I don't think it will be solved on an economic basis. . . . All people have some kind of insecurity. It may be pretty well concealed, and they may not know what it is, and it may not have anything to do with the Japanese, but they'll take it out on them. People are funny (laughs) and are cruel. (What ought to be done to combat prejudice? ) I think one thing that could be done-kinda regimentation, is to get the facts, it would help, though it wouldn't solve the problem . . . e. g. , that there is no necessity for separating Negro and white blood in blood banks, and there are a lot of people who think that the Japanese are a treacherous race, and that it's trans- mitted through heredity. . . . Of course, a lot of it is irrational. "
As to the emphasis on dynamic factors versus supposedly innate qualities, the most striking illustration is provided by M2o3, a thoroughly liberal teacher, head of the English department in a junior college. He, too, is low on all scales. His whole philosophy is positivistic, with a strong interest in semantics, though he does not "think they should make a panacea out of semantics. " His general outlook on minority problems is summarized by his statement on the Japanese:
"If the Germans were changed in one generation by the Nazis, then the Japanese can be changed in a democratic way in one or two generations. Anybody can be- come anything under the proper conditions. "
Consequently, when discussing anti-Semitism, he chooses as an explanation a historical element, the maliciously superimposed Jewish names. The arbi- trariness of the selection of this specific factor can probably be accounted for by the interviewee's semanticist hobby:
"Anti-Semitism is a little different. Semites are not so easily identified. I guess their name is about the main thing. For instance, from your name I guess you're Jewish though I wouldn't know to look at you. Are you? " (Yes. ) (Subject is quite open about these things. The only sign of inhibition was that it was hard for him to use the word "Jew" as he preferred the word "Semite" at first, but later he used the word "Jew" also.
)
This subject's readiness to discuss the interviewer's Jewishness is significant. To him, the word Jew is not a magic word, nor is being Jewish a disgrace: thus he does not feel inhibited about mentioning it in relation to the person with whom he is talking. It is hard to imagine that a high scorer would casu- ally discuss the origins of an interviewer except on occasions when he feels on the defensive and wants to hurt the other fellow: "You are a Jew yourself, aren't you? "
The rationality of the unprejudiced subjects expresses itself, above all, in their rejection of anti-minority stereotypes. Frequently, this rejection is of a conscious, articulate nature: they take the concept of individuality seriously. We refer again to Mgzo. His utterance shows a definite sense of proportion even in his rejection of stereotypy: he does not deny the existence of physical racial characteristics, but regards them as nonessential:
"Well, I wouldn't be tricked into making a statement about any people as a
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group. The Japanese I've known I've liked very well. I know there are some Japa- nese who aren't so nice. . . . W e had a Japanese gir1stand up with us at the altar and ' a Chinese girl too . . . in 1942 when there was some pretty tense feeling. (Do you feel that any racial group has certain distinguishing characteristics? ) No, not at all. Of course you have biological characteristics, the height of the bridge of the nose or pigmentation. "
A similar line is followed in the Los Angeles interview 5030, of a 33-year-old Stanford graduate who served for four years in the navy, finally becoming a Lieutenant Commander. His scores on all scales are low. He is judged by the interviewer to be an extremely astute, successful individual:
"The Negroes, Jews, and all minority groups are having a very difficult time. I think many people dislike them because of their physical characteristics. They are really in a very bad spot. Such things as the FEPC help a lot and I favor both state and national laws concerning this issue. So many people are not willing to admit that many Negroes are intelligent, superior, and capable individuals. Their environ- ment has held them back as a race. I have had both good and bad experiences with members of these groups but have never considered the people as belonging to a certain race or religion. I always take them for what they are worth as individuals. Yesterday I had a nice experience. There is a girl in one of my classes who is part Negro. She is a very superior and capable individual and I am sure the most intelli- gent member of the class. I have often thought I would like to visit with her but a suitable opportunity has never presented itself. Yesterday I, after much hesitation and fumbling, invited her to have a cup of coffee with me. Her acceptance was much more gracious than my invitation and we had a nice visit. I think the reason for my hesitation was simply a fear of what other people might think. I once had a Jewish roommate and he was the best roommate I have ever had. "
An extreme example of fully conscious anti-stereotypy is 5046, an execu- tive secretary in the movie industry, in her late thirties, actively engaged in the labor movement. Her questionnaire scores are low for all scales. If some of her formulations suggest a "ticket low,"2 it should be kept in mind that her rejection of stereotypy even prevents her from building up automatically a pro-Jewish stereotype. She is no "Jew lover," but seems truly to appraise people as individuals. As a matter of fact, she has just severed a relationship with a Jewish man:
When the interviewer began questioning subject on the Jewish problem, it be- came apparent immediately that she "knew all the answers. " She stated: "Yes, there is a problem . . . but I don't think we should call it a Jewish problem; it really is a Christian problem . . . question of educating the Gentiles who practice anti- Semitism. " When given the check list, she laughed and said: "Of course, one can't generalize . . . these are the stereotypes used by the anti-Semites to blame the Jews for certain faults . . . I don't think one should label any group like this . . . it is dangerous, especially in regard to the Jews, because one has to evaluate the indi- vidual on his or her own merits. " None of the other questions brought out even a trace of anti-Semitism, and throughout, her answers indicated a consistent, almost
2 See the "rigid low scorer" in Chapter XIX.
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militant stand against anti-Semitism. She feels that anti-Semitism is one of the most dangerous trends in this country and feels that the only solution must be sought through widespread education along liberal lines and through extensive intermar- riage. She feels rather optimistic about the process of assimilation, although she is quite alarmed about the increase of anti-Semitism during recent years. Hitler's race theory and persecution of the Jews should be combatted on every front, in what- ever form it may appear. She stated: "I have also known some Jewish people whom I decidedly did not like, and some of them were quite aggressive, but I would never generalize that therefore 'all Jews' were aggressive . . . if only we could make people see that some people are aggressive for certain reasons, usually because of insecurity, and Jews are not aggressive because they are Jews. "
As pointed out in great detail in the chapters on the personality aspects of the interview material, the low scorers' rationality, their rejection of projec- tive imagery and automatized judgment, does not involve as a rule emotional coldness and detachment. Although they are more rational than the "highs" in so far as their judgment seems to be less determined by repressed uncon- scious factors, they are simultaneously less blocked in positive cathexes and in the expression of them. This refers not only to their general psychological make-up but also to their specific minority attitudes. The prejudiced person discusses the Jews as an "object" while he actually hates; the unprejudiced person displays sympathy even when he pretends simply to judge objec- tively. The link between this sympathy and rationality is the idea of justice, which has come to work, in certain people, spontaneously, almost as if it were instinctual. To the low scorer, racial discrimination violates the basic principle of the equality of all men. In the name of human rights he tends to identify himself with those who are discriminated against and who thus appeal to his own spontaneous feeling of solidarity with the oppressed.
Here are a few examples of this specific configuration. M 113, a "religious low scorer" whose F scale shows higher trends and whose PEC scale was still higher:
(Minority problem? ) "In a speech the other day in Public Speaking I said that democracy is mainly respect for minority groups. " (Vague, little verbalized ideas. ) "They have gotten a dirty deal, as most minorities do. "
Similarly, in M320, a consistently low-scoring student of landscape archi- tecture, protest against unfairness works as a "rationalization" for emotional identification which otherwise might not be allowed to come into the open:
"I'm very much pro-Negro, myself. I think I'm in favor of almost any minority that's discriminated against unfairly. . . . (What about the Jewish problem? ) I don't see why it should be a problem at all. I think that in Europe the Jews should be allowed to live and have their businesses, etc. , the same as anyone else. "
Or the young woman F129, also low on all scales, a somewhat high-strung person who, according to the interviewer, is moved by any disturbing sub- ject-including race prejudice-to tears and flushes:
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(And how do you feel about Jews? ) "vVhy, I don't feel any way about them except upset at the way they are treated. There are good and bad in all races but I am inclined to be even more tolerant about the shortcomings of people who are always persecuted and criticized. (Could you have married a Jew? ) Why of course, if I had fallen in love with one. (Why do you think Jews are persecuted? ) I don't know except some people have to hate. "
There are indications that the low scorers' affect-laden sense of justice is not a mere surface ideology, or a means of narcissistic gratification in one's own humanitarianism, but that it has a real basis within the personality and is only presented afterwards, as it were, in theoretical terms. The sympathy for the underdog leads towards action, towards attempts to correct in concrete, indi- vidual situations what is felt to be general unfairness. A pertinent case was 5030 (see p. 646). We give one further illustration: F126, who is low on E and PEC and only slightly higher on F. She is a good-looking young woman, "very articulate and whimsical, with much charm and humor. " She studies journalism and says that her real desire is to do "creative writing":
"I remember when I was in junior high, there was only one Jewish boy in our class. We were always having parties and affairs and he was left out. At first I didn't even understand why. He was a very nice boy, smart, and good-looking. But they left him out because he was a Jew. vVell, I made it my business to be his special friend, not only invited him to my parties, but paid particular attention to him. That was one time it was really good to be one of the leading kids. The others began to treat him the same way, and he was just one of the crowd from then on. I never have been able to stand to see anyone be mean to anyone else. The same at the shipyards. I always made it a point to get acquainted with Negroes and Jews. They talked frankly with me, too, and I certainly found out what some of their problems are. Whenever I could, I would bring it into a story, too. Not directly about race prejudice, but nice stories about Negroes for instance. People have so many wrong ideas. I sometimes think it is just hopeless. "
The general attitude of the low scorers towards the Jews profoundly affects their evaluation of so-called Jewish traits. It has been said above (pp. 612 ff. ) that high scorers perceive the Jew altogether differently: their psycho- logical make-up functions as a frame of reference even for their supposedly "immediate," everyday experiences. Something similar applies, in reverse, to the unprejudiced. Yet the diffuseness and inarticulateness of the objective "Jewish traits," complex as they are, is reflected by the low scorers' attitude no less than by the various projections of the high scorers. There is universal sympathy among the unprejudiced subjects, but no unanimity. Sometimes they try to explain Jewish traits; sometimes they simply deny their existence; sometimes they take an emphatically positive, admiring stand towards those traits.
The explanatory method is applied to the most widespread idea of a Jewish trait, that of clannishness, by M2o2, a 35-year-old construction engineer, with the lowest possible score on E, but with certain deviations from the usual
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picture of the low scorer with regard to PEC and also to F-a person who, according to the interviewer, "is conservative but not fascist. "
In response to a question about how he would characterize the Jews, subject replied that they were a close-knit family with certain inborn characteristics like any other racial group. For instance, the Germans "must always be right," the English-here the interviewer interrupted, pointing out that she wished to know what he thought of the Jews. He replied that the Jews had not been accepted in a certain society and that this had led to their becoming a very close-knit family. The reason for this is that they have certain characteristics. On being asked to be more specific, his reply was they have a tendency to sharp dealing. Of course he doesn't blame them because he would probably do the same if he had the chance and if he were smart enough.
In this case, the wish to "explain," frequently an instrument for rationaliza- tions, seems to mediate between broad-mindedness on the one hand and power- ful anti-minority stereotypes, which are still there below the surface, on the other. As a matter of fact, the pro-Jewish apologies of the subject are fol- lowed by a rather unfriendly story about a supposed conspiracy among three Jewish bidders for a vast quantity of scrap-iron. The guess that the explanatory attitude may sometimes cover up ambivalence seems to be cor- roborated by Mpo, an assistant manager for an advertising agency, who scored low on all scales. Nevertheless, his theorizing presupposes the accept- ance of the stereotype of Jewish money-mindedness:
(Characteristic Jewish traits? ) "Well, I think it is true that Jews, as a group, are more concerned with money. . . . Perhaps because persecuted for so long. . . ? It's some small security in a money economy, that is, a money culture. Some security to be able to defend themselves with money. I also think they are better than average Gentiles at making money because forced to be usurers during the Middle Ages, etc. "
Subjects whose scores are at the lowest extreme often tend simply to deny the existence of any Jewish traits, sometimes with a violence that seems to be due more to the impact of their own conscience than to an objective appraisal of the minority members. Here "neurotic" traits, which are often found in extremely unprejudiced subjects, may easily enter the picture. The vehicle by which they try to argue away Jewish traits is insight into the mechanisms of projectivity and stereotypy, i. e. , into the subjective factors making for anti-Semitism.
Mz12, a "quiet, reserved, well-mannered sophomore of 18 years," whose scale scores are all low, simply subscribes to the "envy" theory:
(Jews? ) "Not an educational problem in this case. People just prejudiced. Want to keep them out of good positions, etc. People make up wild stories, like that the Jews have too much money, control the country, etc. ; it's just to keep them back. (Your contacts? ) No Negroes in my school. Jews were like anyone else. I'd never know they were Jewish if they hadn't told me," ?
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5041 (whose scale scores are all low), a 59-year-old housewife who had studied to be a professional pianist, combines the denial of Jewish traits with reference to bygone ages and with the rejection of resentful generalizations:
"I think there is a Jewish problem-but I don't think that they are different . . . not that there is anything inherent in them that they should be set apart or treated differently. . . . There are historical reasons for their persecution . . . it is not their fault. Well, you can't apply any of these traits to the Jews as a group. Jews are not a race. . . . These terms might apply to some individuals, to Christians as well as Jews . . . you have some aggressive people, but they are not aggressive because they are Jewish . . . it's usually something that the other person does not like . . . say they appear to be more intellectual and some succeed, outdoing others, this causes resentment, and then they are called aggressive. . . . "
An extreme of denial is achieved by the "easy-going" low scorer, M z2o6a, of the Maritime School Group, who "is a highly introspective person and shows much inhibition against rejecting another person or group, even on the basis of principles founded in reality. " His scores on all the scales are low:
(Most characteristic traits of Negroes? ) "Well, I don't think there is such a thing. They have the same traits the white men have.
The most characteristic anti-Jewish remarks appearing in our interviews fall within this frame of thinking, although motifs of a more "proletarian" anti-Semitism, such as the idea of the Jewish exploiter or of the Jews dodging hard manual labor, are not lacking. The division between proletarian and
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middle-class anti-Semitism sh~uld not be exaggerated. The traits ascribed to Jews by working men have often the aspect of the "misfit bourgeois" too. What appear to the worker as symptoms of capitalist exploitiveness can easily be transformed by the middle classes into the reproach of dishonesty, a flagrant violation of bourgeois ethics, one of the main tenets of which is, after all, the praise of good honest labor. The stereotypes here in question transcend the frontiers of the classes; it is only their function that changes, and hence the difference in emphasis.
The construct of the "misfit bourgeois" can easily be articulated according to three major groups of motifs: first, that of Jewish weakness and its psycho- logical correlates, second, the middle-class identification of the Jews as an overcompensation that has essentially failed, third, the intrinsic disloyalty of the Jews to the class with which they vainly attempt to identify themselves, a disloyalty which is viewed as an expression of their abortive identification and of their nature as an objectionable, isolated, and "clannish" ingroup. The first two of these objections may have some basis in reality. There is consid- erable evidence, e. g. , the recent studies by Anton Lourie, of Jewish masochism and its basis in religious psychology. The third objection seems to be predominantly projective and one of the major rationalizations of the wish to "get rid of the whole bunch. "
The idea of Jewish weakness is epitomized by F114, a woman consistently high on all scales, who is a surgical nurse of partly Jewish descent:
"I have a cousin who was in love with me and wanted to marry me. He was more Jewish than I. I loved him, but wouldn't marry him. I told him why-because he's Jewish. He is no~ married to a Gentile with two children. He's more anti-Semitic than I. That's true of so many Jews-like they were lame or hunchback. They hate it or resent it. "
It is perhaps characteristic that such overt statements on Jewish weakness are made frequently either by persons who are themselves being identified with the Jews or-with a more positive accent-by low-scoring subjects. The prejudiced individual, whose hatred is stimulated by weakness, rather tends to stress, on the surface, the strength of the Jews who "wield undue influ- ence" and "own everything. " An example of the low-scorer's attitude to- wards Jewish weakness is the statement of 5055, an otherwise thoroughly liberal man of 73 years who scored low on all the scales. He feels
"that this protective philosophy of the Jews has led to a situation where they do stimulate antagonism in other people. "
In cases of extreme low scorers the awareness of Jewish weakness sometimes leads to identification: they assume the role of Jews themselves, consciously in order to antagonize anti-Semitic acquaintances, unconsciously, possibly, in order to atone for anti-Semitism by at least figuratively suffering the same
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humiliations under which they know the Jews live. Here belongs the case of a zo-year-old, somewhat neurotic interior decorator, 5028, who is in open rebellion against his father but strongly attached to his mother:
The subject and his sister are alike in that they both admire Jewish people. He told of jokes that they had played upon some of their father's relatives who are extremely anti-Semitic by pretending that a great grandfather on the maternal side was Jewish. The subject explained that many persons in his mother's family "look a little Jewish because they have long noses. " The paternal cousin to whom they were talking "almost committed suicide" at the thought, The subject volun- teered the comment that perhaps one reason he likes Jews is that he "has never known any who were objectionable,"
To the prejudiced person, the imagery of Jewish weakness, combined as it is with the rationalization of strength, sometimes strikes a peculiar note, remarkable because of its close harmony with one of the standard themes of American fascist agitators. It is the image of the Jewish refugee who is de- picted simultaneously as strong ("He takes the jobs away from our American boys") and as weak ("He is a dirty outcast"). There is reason enough to believe that the second motive is the decisive one. The high-scoring man Mzo5 makes the following statement:
"A lot of Jewish immigrants are coming to this country. They get a soft life, and they take over. You can't deal with one, and a lot of them are awful dirty, though they have money. "
Aggressiveness against the refugees comes to the fore even in cases which are otherwise, according to the interviewer, only mildly aqti-Semitic. 5036 is a jazz musician, at the present time drawing unemployment insurance. He is high onE and F, although lower on PEC.
Although he denies any outgroup antagonisms, many of these are implicit and at the surface level. He is most vehement in his belief that refugees should not assume citizenship and should be sent home when time and conditions permit it.
The psychological determination of this subject's hatred of the refugee competitors can be inferred the more safely since he acknowledges that
"There is no doubt that the Jews are talented in music. "
He sets against this only the vague standard accusation:
"but they are so clannish and aggressive and loud that sometimes I can't stand them. " On several occasions he claims that the aggressiveness and selfish demands of Jews within smaller bands he had tried to organize caused their failure. "These Jews would never really get a feeling of pride in the organization. They would always leave you the minute they had a better offer; and in trying to meet offers they had, I went broke twice. " On the other hand, he says some Jews are undoubtedly out- standingly cultured people.
The refugees, as those who are objectively weak, are regularly blamed for
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having a domineering attitude and a drive for power. While there may be some basis for the objection of aggressiveness in certain institutionalized Jewish reaction formations, such as the Jewish habit of "pleading," this stere- otype helps at the same time to alleviate the anti-Semite's discomfort about violating the principle of democratic asylum: it is not he but the fugitives who are supposed to disregard the rules of hospitality. 5043, a middle-aged housewife with extremely high scores on all the scales, alleges that the Jews
are loud and often aggressive. (Here she gave an example of women at the market who push themselves forward. ) She specifically distinguishes between "refugees" and other Jews and feels that the "type we have been getting in the neighborhood lately" is definitely clannish, unintelligent, and generally undesirable.
The stereotype of Jewish aggressiveness shows a characteristic of anti- Semitic thinking which deserves closer investigation. It is the mixing, in allegations against the Jews, of crudely physical acts of aggression with hy- potheses of a more psychological nature. Just as the idea of "Jewish blood" ranges from the fear of "pollution of the race," where the term blood is used only figuratively, to the hysteria of bodily "poisoning" inflicted by Jewish blood donors, the imagery of aggressiveness ranges from the J{:ws using their elbows when standing in a queue to their allegedly ruthless business practices. This suggests the retrogressive, "mythological" feature of some anti-Semi- tism. Mental dispositions are translated into physical reality both in order to soothe the fear of the incomprehensible "alien mentality" and to add a sense of the real to that which is actually only projective. This retranslation prob- ably throws some light on the over-all insistence of the anti-Semite on Jewish physical traits.
5067 "is a portly, rather maternal-looking woman who looks all of her forty-eight years. " She was chosen as a mixed case with high E and PEC. She does not differentiate at all between the physical and the psychological aspect of Jewish "aggressiveness":
"I do not like their coercive aggression in business. They are not only aggressive, but they should also be segregated. They are always pushing people aside. I noticed nearly every time when there was pushing in the innumerable lines we had to wait in during the war, it was a Jew who started the pushing. I feel a real revulsion towards Jews. "
In other cases, the idea of aggressiveness is used in the exclusively social sense of "intrusiveness. " Sometimes one gets a glimpse into the mechanism behind this standard reproach. It probably has to do with the all-pervasive feeling of social isolation, which is overcompensated for in innumerable middle-class "social activities. " Against this background of emotion the Jews, as the classic agents of circulation, are perceived and probably envied as those who are not isolated, but have "contacts" everywhere. This idea is closely associated with that of clannishness, which also implies the imagery
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of some kind of togetherness from which the members of the real ingroup
pretend to be excluded. The aforementioned Fzos finds the formula: "They seem to know everybody; they pull strings; they are like a clan, more
united than any race. They have friends everywhere who can do the right thing. "
Finally, it should be mentioned that there is some evidence in our material that the basis of the stereotype "aggressiveness" lies in repressed sexuality. The Jews are supposed to be unencumbered by the standards of Puritan morality, and the more strictly one adheres oneself to these standards, the more eagerly are the supposed sex habits of the Jews depicted as sordid. What goes uncensored in the case of Jewish "rich food" becomes intolerable in the sphere of supposedly uninhibited and therefore repulsive sensuality. Some insight into this matter is afforded by the 42-year-old woman, Fzz8, a public health nurse-a person, incidentally, whose outgroup hatred is focused on organized labor rather than on minorities and whose score on A-S is middle, while she scores high on PEC and F.
She could not imagine herself marrying a Jew. She then proceeded to relate that actually she once had an opportunity to marry a Jew. One time, when she returned home for the su? mmer after being in New York for a while, she met a very intel- ligent lawyer who worked in the same office as her brother. He was very well- educated and knew languages. She had dates with him and saw quite a lot of him for three weeks, until one day he said to her, "There is one thing I want to tell you about myself. You have never met my family and I had not intended that you should meet them. However, there is one thing that I want to ask you, and that is whether you would object to marrying a Jew? " She said that it was as if she had been struck a great blow. He did not look Jewish, his name was not Jewish, and he even sang in the choir of her church, so that she never suspected that he was Jewish. She just sat there without saying a word-and that was his answer. She then went on to add that it was very bad for him, because all the girls staying in her boarding house then found out that he was Jewish and it also became known at his place of work and made things bad for him there. Subject saw him again ten years later and felt that he did look more Jewish, but added that that was perhaps because she now knew that he was Jewish. The thing that is most impossible to her in the idea of marrying a Jew is the thought of bearing Jewish children.
It is noteworthy that the resistance of this woman was brought about only by her knowledge of the man's Jewish descent, not by any of his own charac- teristics. It is hardly going too far to assume that the stereotype has re-enacted old childhood taboos against sexuality and that it was only afterwards that these were turned against the Jew as an individual. Primary attraction is the basis for subsequent repulsion.
The close relations of the ubiquitous idea of clannishness to the reproach of aggressiveness has become obvious in previous examples. Suffice it to say here that clannishness appears as the justification for excluding the aggressive "intruder": he always "remains a Jew" and wants to cheat those by whom he wishes to be accepted. At the same time, the idea of clannishness consum-
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mates the imagery of Jewish. togetherness, of a warm, family-like, archaic and very "ingroup-like" texture of the outgroup which seems to be denied to those who are thoroughly formed by American civilization and obey the rules of technological rationality.
The underlying attractiveness of the Jewish "clan" is accentuated by the statement of Mzo2, a subject scoring high on all scales:
"The Jewish kids I knew in high school were the sons and daughters of the prominent Jewish businessmen, and they were very clannish. It's hard to say what ought to be done about it. It doesn't seem to bother them what people think. That is a natural characteristic. It doesn't do any good to try to exclude them from busi- ness because some of them are the smartest businessmen we have. Most of them are out of Germany by now, and I suppose they'll get back. Some are very crafty about sticking together and getting ahead in business, getting capital. People in Germany will feel the need of Jewish businessmen and they will pool their capital and make a start there. (\Vhat about Jewish women? ) Some of them are very attractive, and some are very clannish. They are dominated by the men; it's all in their creed. "
The more patriarchal structure of the Jewish family, whether it be real or imagined, seems to work as an element of sexual attraction. Jewish women are supposed "to do everything for men"-just what the Gentile American girl is expected not to do. At the same time, however, the idea of sexual ful- fillment tends to diminish, in American culture, the social value of the women who offer this fulfillment. Here again, the praise of one Jewish quality is prone to tilt over into its opposite.
How the idea of clannishness can sometimes obtain features of an obses- sion laden with violent resentment is shown in the case of F113, a young woman who is high on the E scale but somewhat lower on F and PEC. She is an attractive, somewhat neurotic girl of z6, a subject from the Extension Class group. She resents both Jewish names and those who dared to change them. When speaking about Jewish acquaintances, she makes a point of their owning "a chain of burlesque houses," being rich as well as somewhat dis- reputable. In her statement about Jewish family life, it is remarkable how closely some observations which have a ring of truth are knit together with somewhat paranoid ideas about the selfishness determining the Jewish be- havior in question and with a harsh evaluation of it as a "guilt":
"The worst experience with them I had was when I was overseas operator in Hawaii a couple of years ago. I had to monitor all the calls that went to New York so I listened to just thousands of conversations. And ninety percent of them were rich Jews calling up their families. That is the only really good thing I can say for them-their devotion to their families. But all purely selfish. The money they spent-and the time-on just purely selfish calls. (Business calls? ) Well I worked mostly at night. But the other girls said it was the same people making business calls during the day. (How did you know they were Jews? ) Their voices and the th~ngsthey said. Selfish. (Could there have been Jews you didn't recognize? ) I don't thmk so. You get so you always know a Jewish voice. "
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I. OBSERV A TIONS ON LOW-SCORING SUBJECTS
Throughout this chapter, we have concentrated on the phenomena of anti-Semitism and their structural interconnections. We have abstained from a detailed discussion of the minority attitudes of the non-anti-Semite and of the anti-anti-Semite. Obviously, it is more difficult and less promising to analyze the absence of highly specific opinions and attitudes than it is to deal with their existence. We have been able, it seems, in the study as a whole to draw a fairly complete picture of the low scorers, ranging from surface ideology to characterological determinants. Their general tendency to be disinterested in so-called racial questions, however, limits the supply of per- tinent information. Moreover, the pragmatic aspect of our study naturally requires a closer scrutiny of the danger zone than of areas which can be discounted as a potential for fascism. By and large, the attitudes of the high scorers suffice to define, e contrario, the attitudes of the "lows" which are, in many respects, set polemically against the anti-Semitic imagery prevailing in our cultural climate.
Yet a number of observations concerning the low scorers may be allowed, not only in order to round out the picture, but also because the low scorers, in their responses to questions about minorities, go beyond a simple negation of the prejudiced person's opinions and attitudes, and throw some additional light upon the nonfascist character.
An over-all characteristic of the low scorer's attitude towards Jews is emphatic rationality. This has a double aspect. On the one hand, the general tendency towards intraceptiveness so characteristic of low scorers expresses itself specifically in the racial area through self-reflection: anti:-Semitism presents itself to the low scorers as the problem of the anti-Semite, not of the Jew. On the other hand, racial problems and minority traits are viewed within historical and sociological perspective and thus seen to be open to rational insight and change, instead of being hypostatized in a rigidly irra- tional manner.
An example of self-reflection in racial matters is Mgzo, a student-minister, consistently low on all scales, who has strong intellectual leanings and, like most low scorers, a tendency toward hesitation, doubt, and qualifications of his own opinions. He traces back prejudice, in a plain-spoken though some- what primitive manner, to the difficulties of the minority haters, not to the object of their hatred:
(What do you feel are the causes of prejudice? ) "Probably the largest reason is the insecurity or fear of insecurity that the person has himself. The people in my community who have talked loudest about the Japs are the ones who have since taken over (the properties left by the Japanese) . . . and they're afraid they'll come back . . . and they're afraid of them as competitors because they work harder. . . . (You feel it's mainly an economic conflict? ) Well, it isn't altogether economic,
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and I don't think it will be solved on an economic basis. . . . All people have some kind of insecurity. It may be pretty well concealed, and they may not know what it is, and it may not have anything to do with the Japanese, but they'll take it out on them. People are funny (laughs) and are cruel. (What ought to be done to combat prejudice? ) I think one thing that could be done-kinda regimentation, is to get the facts, it would help, though it wouldn't solve the problem . . . e. g. , that there is no necessity for separating Negro and white blood in blood banks, and there are a lot of people who think that the Japanese are a treacherous race, and that it's trans- mitted through heredity. . . . Of course, a lot of it is irrational. "
As to the emphasis on dynamic factors versus supposedly innate qualities, the most striking illustration is provided by M2o3, a thoroughly liberal teacher, head of the English department in a junior college. He, too, is low on all scales. His whole philosophy is positivistic, with a strong interest in semantics, though he does not "think they should make a panacea out of semantics. " His general outlook on minority problems is summarized by his statement on the Japanese:
"If the Germans were changed in one generation by the Nazis, then the Japanese can be changed in a democratic way in one or two generations. Anybody can be- come anything under the proper conditions. "
Consequently, when discussing anti-Semitism, he chooses as an explanation a historical element, the maliciously superimposed Jewish names. The arbi- trariness of the selection of this specific factor can probably be accounted for by the interviewee's semanticist hobby:
"Anti-Semitism is a little different. Semites are not so easily identified. I guess their name is about the main thing. For instance, from your name I guess you're Jewish though I wouldn't know to look at you. Are you? " (Yes. ) (Subject is quite open about these things. The only sign of inhibition was that it was hard for him to use the word "Jew" as he preferred the word "Semite" at first, but later he used the word "Jew" also.
)
This subject's readiness to discuss the interviewer's Jewishness is significant. To him, the word Jew is not a magic word, nor is being Jewish a disgrace: thus he does not feel inhibited about mentioning it in relation to the person with whom he is talking. It is hard to imagine that a high scorer would casu- ally discuss the origins of an interviewer except on occasions when he feels on the defensive and wants to hurt the other fellow: "You are a Jew yourself, aren't you? "
The rationality of the unprejudiced subjects expresses itself, above all, in their rejection of anti-minority stereotypes. Frequently, this rejection is of a conscious, articulate nature: they take the concept of individuality seriously. We refer again to Mgzo. His utterance shows a definite sense of proportion even in his rejection of stereotypy: he does not deny the existence of physical racial characteristics, but regards them as nonessential:
"Well, I wouldn't be tricked into making a statement about any people as a
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group. The Japanese I've known I've liked very well. I know there are some Japa- nese who aren't so nice. . . . W e had a Japanese gir1stand up with us at the altar and ' a Chinese girl too . . . in 1942 when there was some pretty tense feeling. (Do you feel that any racial group has certain distinguishing characteristics? ) No, not at all. Of course you have biological characteristics, the height of the bridge of the nose or pigmentation. "
A similar line is followed in the Los Angeles interview 5030, of a 33-year-old Stanford graduate who served for four years in the navy, finally becoming a Lieutenant Commander. His scores on all scales are low. He is judged by the interviewer to be an extremely astute, successful individual:
"The Negroes, Jews, and all minority groups are having a very difficult time. I think many people dislike them because of their physical characteristics. They are really in a very bad spot. Such things as the FEPC help a lot and I favor both state and national laws concerning this issue. So many people are not willing to admit that many Negroes are intelligent, superior, and capable individuals. Their environ- ment has held them back as a race. I have had both good and bad experiences with members of these groups but have never considered the people as belonging to a certain race or religion. I always take them for what they are worth as individuals. Yesterday I had a nice experience. There is a girl in one of my classes who is part Negro. She is a very superior and capable individual and I am sure the most intelli- gent member of the class. I have often thought I would like to visit with her but a suitable opportunity has never presented itself. Yesterday I, after much hesitation and fumbling, invited her to have a cup of coffee with me. Her acceptance was much more gracious than my invitation and we had a nice visit. I think the reason for my hesitation was simply a fear of what other people might think. I once had a Jewish roommate and he was the best roommate I have ever had. "
An extreme example of fully conscious anti-stereotypy is 5046, an execu- tive secretary in the movie industry, in her late thirties, actively engaged in the labor movement. Her questionnaire scores are low for all scales. If some of her formulations suggest a "ticket low,"2 it should be kept in mind that her rejection of stereotypy even prevents her from building up automatically a pro-Jewish stereotype. She is no "Jew lover," but seems truly to appraise people as individuals. As a matter of fact, she has just severed a relationship with a Jewish man:
When the interviewer began questioning subject on the Jewish problem, it be- came apparent immediately that she "knew all the answers. " She stated: "Yes, there is a problem . . . but I don't think we should call it a Jewish problem; it really is a Christian problem . . . question of educating the Gentiles who practice anti- Semitism. " When given the check list, she laughed and said: "Of course, one can't generalize . . . these are the stereotypes used by the anti-Semites to blame the Jews for certain faults . . . I don't think one should label any group like this . . . it is dangerous, especially in regard to the Jews, because one has to evaluate the indi- vidual on his or her own merits. " None of the other questions brought out even a trace of anti-Semitism, and throughout, her answers indicated a consistent, almost
2 See the "rigid low scorer" in Chapter XIX.
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militant stand against anti-Semitism. She feels that anti-Semitism is one of the most dangerous trends in this country and feels that the only solution must be sought through widespread education along liberal lines and through extensive intermar- riage. She feels rather optimistic about the process of assimilation, although she is quite alarmed about the increase of anti-Semitism during recent years. Hitler's race theory and persecution of the Jews should be combatted on every front, in what- ever form it may appear. She stated: "I have also known some Jewish people whom I decidedly did not like, and some of them were quite aggressive, but I would never generalize that therefore 'all Jews' were aggressive . . . if only we could make people see that some people are aggressive for certain reasons, usually because of insecurity, and Jews are not aggressive because they are Jews. "
As pointed out in great detail in the chapters on the personality aspects of the interview material, the low scorers' rationality, their rejection of projec- tive imagery and automatized judgment, does not involve as a rule emotional coldness and detachment. Although they are more rational than the "highs" in so far as their judgment seems to be less determined by repressed uncon- scious factors, they are simultaneously less blocked in positive cathexes and in the expression of them. This refers not only to their general psychological make-up but also to their specific minority attitudes. The prejudiced person discusses the Jews as an "object" while he actually hates; the unprejudiced person displays sympathy even when he pretends simply to judge objec- tively. The link between this sympathy and rationality is the idea of justice, which has come to work, in certain people, spontaneously, almost as if it were instinctual. To the low scorer, racial discrimination violates the basic principle of the equality of all men. In the name of human rights he tends to identify himself with those who are discriminated against and who thus appeal to his own spontaneous feeling of solidarity with the oppressed.
Here are a few examples of this specific configuration. M 113, a "religious low scorer" whose F scale shows higher trends and whose PEC scale was still higher:
(Minority problem? ) "In a speech the other day in Public Speaking I said that democracy is mainly respect for minority groups. " (Vague, little verbalized ideas. ) "They have gotten a dirty deal, as most minorities do. "
Similarly, in M320, a consistently low-scoring student of landscape archi- tecture, protest against unfairness works as a "rationalization" for emotional identification which otherwise might not be allowed to come into the open:
"I'm very much pro-Negro, myself. I think I'm in favor of almost any minority that's discriminated against unfairly. . . . (What about the Jewish problem? ) I don't see why it should be a problem at all. I think that in Europe the Jews should be allowed to live and have their businesses, etc. , the same as anyone else. "
Or the young woman F129, also low on all scales, a somewhat high-strung person who, according to the interviewer, is moved by any disturbing sub- ject-including race prejudice-to tears and flushes:
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(And how do you feel about Jews? ) "vVhy, I don't feel any way about them except upset at the way they are treated. There are good and bad in all races but I am inclined to be even more tolerant about the shortcomings of people who are always persecuted and criticized. (Could you have married a Jew? ) Why of course, if I had fallen in love with one. (Why do you think Jews are persecuted? ) I don't know except some people have to hate. "
There are indications that the low scorers' affect-laden sense of justice is not a mere surface ideology, or a means of narcissistic gratification in one's own humanitarianism, but that it has a real basis within the personality and is only presented afterwards, as it were, in theoretical terms. The sympathy for the underdog leads towards action, towards attempts to correct in concrete, indi- vidual situations what is felt to be general unfairness. A pertinent case was 5030 (see p. 646). We give one further illustration: F126, who is low on E and PEC and only slightly higher on F. She is a good-looking young woman, "very articulate and whimsical, with much charm and humor. " She studies journalism and says that her real desire is to do "creative writing":
"I remember when I was in junior high, there was only one Jewish boy in our class. We were always having parties and affairs and he was left out. At first I didn't even understand why. He was a very nice boy, smart, and good-looking. But they left him out because he was a Jew. vVell, I made it my business to be his special friend, not only invited him to my parties, but paid particular attention to him. That was one time it was really good to be one of the leading kids. The others began to treat him the same way, and he was just one of the crowd from then on. I never have been able to stand to see anyone be mean to anyone else. The same at the shipyards. I always made it a point to get acquainted with Negroes and Jews. They talked frankly with me, too, and I certainly found out what some of their problems are. Whenever I could, I would bring it into a story, too. Not directly about race prejudice, but nice stories about Negroes for instance. People have so many wrong ideas. I sometimes think it is just hopeless. "
The general attitude of the low scorers towards the Jews profoundly affects their evaluation of so-called Jewish traits. It has been said above (pp. 612 ff. ) that high scorers perceive the Jew altogether differently: their psycho- logical make-up functions as a frame of reference even for their supposedly "immediate," everyday experiences. Something similar applies, in reverse, to the unprejudiced. Yet the diffuseness and inarticulateness of the objective "Jewish traits," complex as they are, is reflected by the low scorers' attitude no less than by the various projections of the high scorers. There is universal sympathy among the unprejudiced subjects, but no unanimity. Sometimes they try to explain Jewish traits; sometimes they simply deny their existence; sometimes they take an emphatically positive, admiring stand towards those traits.
The explanatory method is applied to the most widespread idea of a Jewish trait, that of clannishness, by M2o2, a 35-year-old construction engineer, with the lowest possible score on E, but with certain deviations from the usual
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picture of the low scorer with regard to PEC and also to F-a person who, according to the interviewer, "is conservative but not fascist. "
In response to a question about how he would characterize the Jews, subject replied that they were a close-knit family with certain inborn characteristics like any other racial group. For instance, the Germans "must always be right," the English-here the interviewer interrupted, pointing out that she wished to know what he thought of the Jews. He replied that the Jews had not been accepted in a certain society and that this had led to their becoming a very close-knit family. The reason for this is that they have certain characteristics. On being asked to be more specific, his reply was they have a tendency to sharp dealing. Of course he doesn't blame them because he would probably do the same if he had the chance and if he were smart enough.
In this case, the wish to "explain," frequently an instrument for rationaliza- tions, seems to mediate between broad-mindedness on the one hand and power- ful anti-minority stereotypes, which are still there below the surface, on the other. As a matter of fact, the pro-Jewish apologies of the subject are fol- lowed by a rather unfriendly story about a supposed conspiracy among three Jewish bidders for a vast quantity of scrap-iron. The guess that the explanatory attitude may sometimes cover up ambivalence seems to be cor- roborated by Mpo, an assistant manager for an advertising agency, who scored low on all scales. Nevertheless, his theorizing presupposes the accept- ance of the stereotype of Jewish money-mindedness:
(Characteristic Jewish traits? ) "Well, I think it is true that Jews, as a group, are more concerned with money. . . . Perhaps because persecuted for so long. . . ? It's some small security in a money economy, that is, a money culture. Some security to be able to defend themselves with money. I also think they are better than average Gentiles at making money because forced to be usurers during the Middle Ages, etc. "
Subjects whose scores are at the lowest extreme often tend simply to deny the existence of any Jewish traits, sometimes with a violence that seems to be due more to the impact of their own conscience than to an objective appraisal of the minority members. Here "neurotic" traits, which are often found in extremely unprejudiced subjects, may easily enter the picture. The vehicle by which they try to argue away Jewish traits is insight into the mechanisms of projectivity and stereotypy, i. e. , into the subjective factors making for anti-Semitism.
Mz12, a "quiet, reserved, well-mannered sophomore of 18 years," whose scale scores are all low, simply subscribes to the "envy" theory:
(Jews? ) "Not an educational problem in this case. People just prejudiced. Want to keep them out of good positions, etc. People make up wild stories, like that the Jews have too much money, control the country, etc. ; it's just to keep them back. (Your contacts? ) No Negroes in my school. Jews were like anyone else. I'd never know they were Jewish if they hadn't told me," ?
? THE AUTHORITARIAN PERSONALITY
5041 (whose scale scores are all low), a 59-year-old housewife who had studied to be a professional pianist, combines the denial of Jewish traits with reference to bygone ages and with the rejection of resentful generalizations:
"I think there is a Jewish problem-but I don't think that they are different . . . not that there is anything inherent in them that they should be set apart or treated differently. . . . There are historical reasons for their persecution . . . it is not their fault. Well, you can't apply any of these traits to the Jews as a group. Jews are not a race. . . . These terms might apply to some individuals, to Christians as well as Jews . . . you have some aggressive people, but they are not aggressive because they are Jewish . . . it's usually something that the other person does not like . . . say they appear to be more intellectual and some succeed, outdoing others, this causes resentment, and then they are called aggressive. . . . "
An extreme of denial is achieved by the "easy-going" low scorer, M z2o6a, of the Maritime School Group, who "is a highly introspective person and shows much inhibition against rejecting another person or group, even on the basis of principles founded in reality. " His scores on all the scales are low:
(Most characteristic traits of Negroes? ) "Well, I don't think there is such a thing. They have the same traits the white men have.
