Identity and Prejudice

by Farrell Bloch

Overview

In Identity and Prejudice, Farrell Bloch presents a theoretical analysis explaining why individuals are biased against certain race and ethnic groups but in favor of others. Bloch addresses diversity, intersectionality, white privilege, political correctness, identity politics, and self-hate, and applies his theory to contemporary issues including the increased black-white intermarriage rate in the United States, European and American reaction to Muslim immigration, anti-Israel sentiment, the elections of Presidents Obama and Trump, and even the opioid crisis and American holiday observance.

Identity and Prejudice also examines ethnic identity. Bloch emphasizes a society’s zeitgeist as a determinant of the intensity of identity and the direction of prejudice. He develops the concept of the Elitist Paradigm, so-called because of its promotion by the relatively well-educated group of journalists and teachers, that has downgraded respect for the West in general and the United States in particular.

Identity and Prejudice considers conditions under which prejudicial thought develops into discriminatory action. Discussions of misinterpretation of statistics, the rhetoric of prejudice, cognitive distortions, and varying propensities of groups to protest or to accept maltreatment highlight bias in the perception of both perpetrators and victims of bigotry. Bloch also focuses on individual variation within group attitudes using three examples: white racism toward African Americans, German post-war perspectives of the Holocaust, and Muslim opinions of the terrorist acts committed by their coreligionists.

Bloch reviews medieval and modern antisemitism, “the world’s oldest hatred,” stressing factors that can inform a general theory of prejudice and discrimination, especially their mutations over time and reactions of their victims, issues to which the Jewish experience contributes disproportionately. He covers in depth reasons why many people, Jews among them, are receptive to anti-Israel viewpoints.

Identity and Prejudice not only will prove an invaluable asset for those studying or assessing prejudice and discrimination, but also will stimulate general readers with its unusual and probing insights into past and current controversies.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781927618127
Publisher:	Mantua Books Ltd.
Publication date:	10/10/2019
Pages:	254
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.53(d)

About the Author

Farrell Bloch has consulted or testified as an expert witness in hundreds of matters assessing discrimination in employment or lending. A former Princeton economics professor, he is the author of Antidiscrimination Law and Minority Employment and Statistics for Non-Statisticians.

Table of Contents

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER TWO: IDENTITY

2.1 Ethnic Identity

2.2 Identity Strength

2.2.1 Identity Criteria: A Traditional Example

2.2.2 Identity Criteria: Modern Examples

2.3 Related Issues

2.3.1 Religion

2.3.2 Nationality

2.3.3 Diversity

2.3.4 No Single Ethnicity

2.3.5 Overidentification

2.3.6 Intersectionality

2.4 Zeitgeist

2.5 Identity and Public Policy

2.6 Conclusion

CHAPTER THREE: PREJUDICE

3.1 Roots of Prejudice

3.1.1 Philosophical Prejudice

3.1.2 Reciprocal Hostility

3.1.3 Adopting Existing Prejudice

3.1.4 Third Group

3.1.5 Rationalizing Past and Present Practices

3.1.6 Competition

3.1.7 Individual vs. Collective Identity

3.2 Group Characteristics of Discrimination Victims

3.2.1 Small Group

3.2.2 Weak Identity

3.2.3 Identifiable Group

3.2.4 Affluent or Prominent Group

3.3 Self-Hate

3.4 Political Correctness

3.5 Identifying Victims of Discrimination

3.6 Statistical Analysis of Discrimination

3.7 The Rhetoric of Prejudice

3.7.1 Journalistic Bias

3.7.2 Misleading Statistics

3.7.3 Cognitive Issues

3.8 Conclusion

CHAPTER FOUR: INDIVIDUAL VARIATION

4.1 White Racism

4.2 Good Germans

4.3 Muslims and Terrorism

4.4 Conclusion

CHAPTER FIVE: JEWS

5.1 Religious Antisemitism

5.2 Ethnic Antisemitism

5.3 Israel

5.3.1 An Historical Sketch

5.3.2 The Modern State

5.3.3 Third-Party Views

5.3.4 Anti-Zionism and Antisemitism

5.3.5 Jews against Israel

5.4 Conclusion

CHAPTER SIX: CURRENT EVENTS

6.1 Muslims in Europe

6.2 Muslims in America

6.3 Solving the Arab-Israeli Conflict

6.4 African Americans and Other Minorities

6.5 The Economic Status of African Americans

6.6 The Election of President Barack Obama

6.7 The Election of President Donald Trump

6.8 Sanctuary Cities

6.9 Public Monuments

6.10 White Mortality Rates

6.11 The American Calendar

6.12 Conclusion

CHAPTER SEVEN: CONCLUSIONS

APPENDIX: PREJUDICE AS AN EQUIVALENCE RELATION

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

INDEX