The book by Stephen Beller entitled ‘Antisemitism’
examines the development and evolution of resentment against the Jews.
Throughout the book, Beller presents readers with various perspectives of why
Jewish hatred remains to be persistent. The overall thesis that is prevalent
throughout the chapter is that to understand anti-Jewish viewpoints and
sentiments, it is important to look at the historical, social and cultural
perspectives that have shaped the framework that Jewish are an inferior race
compared to others.
The first chapter, entitled ‘What is antisemitism?',
considers the definition of the term and the context of how the term evolved throughout
history. The section looks closely at the political movement and ideology that
have contributed to the perspective against the Jews. The overall thesis
connects in this part by portraying a description of how anti-Semitism started.
It gives an impression of the political movement and how prejudice against the
Jews served as a motivation that would lead to Holocaust. Chapter two gives a
more historical context to the perspective of Anti-Semitism. The main objective
of Beller in this section is to give readers a good idea on how the Jews and other
groups clash with one another. Historically, there is a considerable clash on
beliefs created a negative image against the Jews. Connecting this to the
overall thesis, Beller allows readers to examine the deep rooted anger against
the Jews and how the conflicting beliefs and value system helped influence
anti-Semitism.
The third chapter emphasizes on issues related to
emancipation and the Jewish Question. Under this part, Beller provides readers
with the varying viewpoints on how emancipation applies to Jewish and how their
existing difference resulted to resentment. These existing differences raised
ideas on how anti-Semitism beliefs became a politicized concept especially with
the aggression against the Jews. Again, this is related to the overall thesis
because it gives basis on how the cultural context and issues related to
emancipation provided one of the motivation to induce violence. The fourth
chapter identifies the process to analyze whether the viewpoint of
Anti-Semitism remains to be irrational. From the author’s viewpoint the clash
of the capitalist and socialist perspective influenced the irrationalist view.
The expansion of the anti-Semite ideology comes from this irrationalist view as
majority of Jewish groups remained to be part of the rationalist movement,
especially as they clamored for emancipation. This chapter connects to the
overall thesis in its ability to assert that one of the features shaping the
evolution of anti-Semite ideology can be analyzed in the conflicting political
ideals that remains to exist between Jews and Germans.
The book then highlights the expansion of political and
social ideologies against the Jews in Chapter 5 and 6. Using the context
provided in Chapter 4, Beller highlights the creation of new belief systems
that influenced the growth of anti-Semite ideology. Arguably, this is connected
to the overall thesis because of its ability to consider the transition of how
to understand how the Jews were perceived during these periods and equally
shaped resentment and anger against them. The last two chapters of the book
indicates the consequences and the aftermath of anti-Semitism. Specifically,
Chapter 7 indicates the outcome of anti-Semite ideology and how Hitler used
this in the promotion of Jewish extermination. On the other hand, the 8th
Chapter identifies the continued anti-Semitist approaches in the post-Holocaust
time and highlighted continued resentment against the Jews on various cultures
and societies. These two chapters are essential to the overall thesis because
it highlights the continuing struggles of the Jews. It also provides the
impression of how anti-Semite images define the context of discrimination and
the manner that these are manifested in the sphere of politics and social
interactions with the Jews.
Work Cited
Beller, Stephen. Antisemitism: A Very Short Introduction. 2007 Oxford University Press; New
York. Print
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