Group Position, Collective Threat, and American Anti-Semitism

Abstract

This article provides a theoretical account of anti-Jewish prejudice and empirically tests this model using data from a recent national survey of adults in the United States. Whereas much prior research emphasizes the religious and cultural foundations of anti-Semitism, the present research provides an alternative framework that builds on Herbert Blumer's (1958) theory of prejudice as a sense of group position. Two related yet distinct lines of research have evolved from Blumer's seminal work, one emphasizing the position of an individual's group membership relative to other groups and a second that focuses on aggregate factors such as local economic conditions and minority group size. These themes are integrated to investigate the individual and contextual correlates of anti-Semitism in the contemporary United States. The findings suggest that anti-Jewish sentiments are most prevalent among African Americans and individuals residing in places with larger per capita Jewish populations. Interaction models further suggest that African Americans residing in areas with high concentrations of Jews are particularly likely to harbor anti-Jewish sentiments. These results cast doubt on strictly religious interpretations of anti-Semitism while partly supporting, and qualifying, a group position model. The findings have implications for theories of anti-Semitism and for the development of group threat perspectives on prejudice and inter-group conflict generally.