Russian Anti-Semitism and the Scapegoating of Jews
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Abstract
Throughout Russian history, Jews have often been blamed when turmoil has arisen in the country. It is
surprising, therefore, that Russian politics in the 1990s focused so little on Jews as a source of the political
and economic crises afflicting the country. This article investigates anti-Jewish attitudes in Russia over time
and cross-sectionally, carefully scrutinizing the hypothesis that perceptions of economic, social and political
upheaval activate latent authoritarianism into anti-Semitism. Little if any support is found for the hypothesis
and therefore it is argued that scapegoat theory, as currently constituted and applied to Jews, is too simplistic
to be useful. Russian Jews were not subject to intolerance and repression in the 1990s because anti-Semitic
beliefs were not widespread enough to be used successfully by political entrepreneurs seeking advantage
through attacks on Jews.
surprising, therefore, that Russian politics in the 1990s focused so little on Jews as a source of the political
and economic crises afflicting the country. This article investigates anti-Jewish attitudes in Russia over time
and cross-sectionally, carefully scrutinizing the hypothesis that perceptions of economic, social and political
upheaval activate latent authoritarianism into anti-Semitism. Little if any support is found for the hypothesis
and therefore it is argued that scapegoat theory, as currently constituted and applied to Jews, is too simplistic
to be useful. Russian Jews were not subject to intolerance and repression in the 1990s because anti-Semitic
beliefs were not widespread enough to be used successfully by political entrepreneurs seeking advantage
through attacks on Jews.
Topics
Genre
Geographic Coverage
Original Language
Volume/Issue
37
Page Number / Article Number
193-223
DOI
Link
Link to article (paywalled), Russian Anti-Semitism and the Scapegoating of Jews
PDF (via academia.edu), Russian Anti-Semitism and the Scapegoating of Jews
PDF (via academia.edu), Russian Anti-Semitism and the Scapegoating of Jews
Bibliographic Information
Russian Anti-Semitism and the Scapegoating of Jews. 2007: 193-223. https://archive.jpr.org.uk/10.1017/S0007123407000105
