In this book, Benjamin Strosberg explores difficulties and anxieties inherent in studying, defining, and defending against anti-Semitism by tracing a concurrent difficulty in thinking about Jewishness, which has historically served as a limit case for central social categories such as outsider, religion, race, gender, and nation. Dr. Strosberg draws on Zygmunt Bauman's concept of proteophobiathe anxious fear of what doesn't fit into clear-cut categoriesto think more carefully about anti-Semitism as response to the complex-realities of ambivalence and otherness. The book proposes 'negative psychology' as a methodology for studying anti-Semitism and proteophobia rooted in psychoanalysis and Theodor Adorno's Critical Theory. Drawing from lived experiences, contemporary events, and debates in the field, this compelling work explores the broad implications of the investigation of anti-Semitism for politics, education, and psychoanalysis, as well as the specific implications for Jewish identity and resistance.

Provides an argument for the renewed study of anti-Semitism in psychology and psychoanalysis Provides a comprehensive review of critical theories of anti-Semitism Re-establishes the relevance of the work of T.W. Adorno and Z. Bauman for the study of anti-Semitism

Autorentext

Benjamin B. Strosberg is a psychotherapist and professor of clinical psychology at Pacifica Graduate Institute in Carpinteria, CA, USA.

Inhalt

1. Questions of Categorization in (and Against) Anti-Semitism.- 2. Excursus on a History of Anti-Semitism.- 3. A History of the Study of Anti-Semitism.- 4. Proteophobia.- 5. Excursus on Adorno's Negative Psychology.- 6. A Critical Theory of Anti-Semitism.- 7. Conclusion, or Not Not Anti-Semitism.- 8. Afterword.