Antisemitism research using methodological triangu

Authors: Samuel Salzborn Burkhard Brosig Peter Schmidt

Publish Date: 2009/12/20

Volume: 45, Issue: 6, Pages: 1201-1215

PDF Link

Abstract

In research on antisemitism related to Germany generally four subdimensions of hatred towards Jews are differentiate a the antiJudaism related to the Christian religion b the biologically argued racial antisemitism c secondary Antisemitism and d antisemitism presented as antizionism The central question in relation to the shift in how antisemitic attitudes are articulated in the German population is the dispute over whether this shift consists merely in a change in how a continuing fundamental antisemitic attitude is articulated and whether antisemitic attitudes have merely found another avenue of communication The overall object of the study is to explore the structures contexts and dynamics of antisemitism and to focus on aspects of political psychology hence looking at mainly collective identification defense and projection patterns In terms of methodology the intention is to study the project as part of a qualitative supplementary study based on the integration concept described by Christian Seipel and Peter Rieker of a sequence of quantitative and qualitative empirical research The supplementary study will have as its base a subsample extracted from the overall results of the GMF Survey 2005 An especially suitable method for this is the Structured Depth Interview since it makes possible revealing noncommunicated motives—whether consciously kept quiet or unconsciously suppressed The main goal here is to penetrate the surface structure of antisemitism to decipher its politicalpsychological dynamics and to elaborate its associative contexts

Keywords: