Antisemitism and the Constitution of Sociology

by Marcel Stoetzler (Editor)

Overview

Modern antisemitism and the modern discipline of sociology not only emerged in the same period, but—antagonism and hostility between the two discourses notwithstanding—also overlapped and complemented each other. Sociology emerged in a society where modernization was often perceived as destroying unity and “social cohesion.” Antisemitism was likewise a response to the modern age, offering in its vilifications of “the Jew” an explanation of society’s deficiencies and crises. Antisemitism and the Constitution of Sociology is a collection of essays providing a comparative analysis of modern antisemitism and the rise of sociology. This volume addresses three key areas: the strong influence of writers of Jewish background and the rising tide of antisemitism on the formation of sociology; the role of antisemitism in the historical development of sociology through its treatment by leading figures in the field, such as Emile Durkheim, Talcott Parsons, and Theodor W. Adorno; and the discipline’s development in the aftermath of the Nazi Holocaust. Together the essays provide a fresh perspective on the history of sociology and the role that antisemitism, Jews, fascism, and the Holocaust played in shaping modern social theory.
  Contributors: Y. Michal Bodemann, Werner Bonefeld, Detlev Claussen, Robert Fine, Chad Alan Goldberg, Irmela Gorges, Jonathan Judaken, Richard H. King, Daniel Lvovich, Amos Morris-Reich, Roland Robertson, Marcel Stoetzler, and Eva-Maria Ziege. 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780803266711
Publisher:	Nebraska
Publication date:	07/01/2014
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	384
File size:	507 KB

About the Author

Marcel Stoetzler is a senior lecturer in sociology at Bangor University, UK, working on social theory and intellectual history. He has a strong interest in Critical Theory, especially Adorno; feminist theory; and the theory and history of antisemitism, especially in relation to liberalism and nationalism.
 

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments vii

Introduction: The Theory of Society Talks Back to Its Travesty Marcel Stoetzler 1

Part 1 The Antisemitic Contexts of Sociology's Emergence

1 Durkheim's Sociology and French Antisemitism Chad Alan Goldberg 45

2 Sociology's Case for a Well-Tempered Modernity: Individualism, Capitalism, and the Antisemitic Challenge Marcel Stoetzler 66

3 Fairness as an Impetus for Objective, Scientific Social Research Methods: The Reports about Jewish Traders in the 1887 Usury Enquête of the Verein für Socialpolitik Irmela Gorges 90

4 Coldly Admiring the Jews: Werner Sombart and Classical German Sociology on Nationalism and Race Y. Michal Bodemann 110

Part 2 Sociology's Reaction to Antisemitism

5 Rereading Marx on the "Jewish Question": Marx as a Critic of Antisemitism? Robert Fine 137

6 From Assimilationist Antiracism to Zionist Anti-antisemitism: Georg Simmel, Franz Boas, and Arthur Ruppin Amos Morris-Reich 160

7 The Rise of Sociology, Antisemitism, and the Jewish Question: The American Case Richard H. King 183

8 Civilization(s), Ethnoracism, Antisemitism, Sociology Roland Robertson 206

Part 3 The Reformulation of Sociology in the Face of Fascist Antisemitism

9 Talcott Parsons's "The Sociology of Modern Anti-Semitism": Anti-antisemitism, Ambivalent Liberalism, and the Sociological Imagination Jonathan Judaken 249

10 The Irrationality of the Rational: The Frankfurt School and Its Theory of Society in the 1940s Eva-Maria Ziege 249

11 Gino Germam, Argentine Sociology, and the Study of Antisemitism Daniel Lvovich Lars Stubbe Maria Valeria Galvan 296

12 Antisemitism and the Power of Abstraction: From Political Economy to Critical Theory Werner Bonefeld 314

13 Conclusion: The Dialectic of Social Science and Worldview Detlev Claussen Marcel Stoetzler 333

Contributors 343

Index 345

Editorial Reviews

Anyone in the social sciences concerned with antisemitism, prejudice, racism, myth, ideology, and theory should be interested in this volume.”—Mark P. Worrell, associate professor at the State University of New York, Cortland, and author of Dialectic of Solidarity: Labor, Antisemitism, and the Frankfurt School

Mark P. Worrell