The Antisemitic Apparatus

Authors

  • Helmut Dahmer

Keywords:

antisemitism, modernization, xenophobia, racism, capitalism, ethnic community, social domination, abstraction

Abstract

After the catastrophe of Auschwitz, the attempts to understand the genesis, the structure and the social function of the antisemitic ideology, as well as the psychology of the antisemites, have increased. This paper analyses the sociohistorical genesis of the antisemitic apparatus, as well as its social functionality in altered, actual contexts and its connection to new forms of xenophobia and racism. The antisemitic apparatus provides an easy "explanation" to complex social situations inflicting harsh suffering, but it also provides a matrix which structures and orientates the affects of those subjected to them. As the antisemitic apparatus points out the "real culprits" and authorizes their "punishment", it exonerates and ennobles the anti-Semites; it encourages the feeling of “community”, strength ening the bonds between the active peers and the silent accomplices.

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Published

2016-02-16

How to Cite

Dahmer, H. (2016). The Antisemitic Apparatus. Constelaciones. Revista De Teoría Crítica, 4(4), 46–63. Retrieved from https://constelaciones-rtc.net/article/view/781