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Antisemitism and Sexism: Ideological Constellations Before and After 7 October

Author(s): Stögner, Karin

Date: 2026

Topics: Main Topic: Antisemitism, October 7 2023 attacks + aftermath, Gender, Feminism, Antisemitism, Antisemitism: Israel-Related, Antisemitism: Left-Wing, Antisemitism: Theory, Theory: Critical Theory, Sexism and Misogyny, Intersectionality

Abstract: Antisemitism and Sexism: Ideological Constellations Before and After 7 October analyses the manifold ways in which antisemitism and sexism appear not as isolated ideologies but as intersecting ones, exploring their historical, social, political, economic, and psychological constellations. Drawing on Critical Theory, the book offers a comparative historical analysis of these entanglements from nineteenth-century Europe—particularly Germany and Austria—through National Socialism and its preconditions, to the historical and contemporary formations of Islamism. The sexist antisemitism of 7 October and its aftermath are examined as a contemporary eruption of these enduring ideological patterns, while Critical Theory itself is sharpened in light of these events. Structured around distinct analytical dimensions, the book opens with a theoretically dense examination of the damaged relationship between human beings and nature under modern labour society, identified by Critical Theory as a key source of both antisemitism and sexism. Subsequent chapters analyse the contradictory constructions of Judaism and femininity, the relation between body and mind, and socially regulated forms of sexuality. Conspiracy myths linking weakness and omnipotence, the psychosocial roots of authoritarian dispositions, and the embedding of these ideologies in specific formations of capitalist modernity and repressive communities are examined in turn. The book also offers a critical examination of intersectional feminist antisemitism in the aftermath of 7 October and advances a proposal to reformulate intersectionality as an ideology-critical framework for a feminist critique of antisemitism.

Holocaust Education in Austria in the Light of the Frankfurt School.

Author(s): Rajal, Elke

Date: 2015

Topics: Antisemitism, Antisemitism: Theory, Holocaust Education, Main Topic: Holocaust and Memorial

Antisemitismus in Institutionen, institutioneller Antisemitismus: Konzeptionelle Überlegungen und empirische Befunde

Translated Title: Antisemitism in institutions, institutional antisemitism: Conceptual considerations and empirical findings

Author(s): Poensgen, Daniel

Date: 2026

Topics: Antisemitism: Institutional, Antisemitism: Theory, Main Topic: Antisemitism, Antisemitism: Jewish Perceptions and Experiences, Interviews

Abstract: Der Beitrag untersucht, inwiefern die Betrachtung von institutionellem Antisemitismus und von Antisemitismus in Institutionen hilfreich ist, um aktuelle antisemitische Dynamiken angemessen zu beschreiben. Er liefert konkrete
empirische Befunde dazu, wie Betroffene Antisemitismus in (ausgewählten) Institutionen erleben: Ausgehend von Interviews und zivilgesellschaftlich dokumentierten Vorfällen wird gezeigt, wie wirkmächtig entsprechende
antisemitische Erfahrungen für die Betroffenen sind. Auf der Grundlage des Forschungsstands und einer Begriffsbestimmung, die zwischen institutionellem Antisemitismus und Antisemitismus in Institutionen unterscheidet, wird die Bedeutung von Institutionen für antisemitische Dynamiken herausgestellt; dafür wird das Konzept der Gelegenheitsstrukturen erläutert und genutzt. Schilderungen aus qualitativen Interviews mit Jüdinnen_Juden verdeutlichen und konkretisieren, wie Betroffene Antisemitismus in Institutionen erleben und welche Rolle institutionelle Routinen, Regeln und Normen spielen. Der Beitrag argumentiert, dass der Blick darauf einen wichtigen Beitrag leistet, um gegenwärtigen Antisemitismus zu verstehen.

The Ideology of Antisemitism: On Its Persistent Presence as Resentment and Worldview in the Global Age

Author(s): Rensmann, Lars

Editor(s): Beyer, Heiko; Schauer, Alexandra

Date: 2026

Topics: Main Topic: Antisemitism, Antisemitism: Theory, Theory: Critical Theory

Abstract: The chapter explores the enduring ideological nature of antisemitism as a conspiracist worldview that transcends conventional definitions of prejudice. Challenging both the “post-ideological” thesis and narrow sociological concepts of ideology, the chapter positions modern antisemitism as a paradigmatic form of social and political ideology—hermetic, totalizing, and adaptive. Drawing on intellectual history, critical theory, and contemporary empirical studies, the text traces the ideological evolution of antisemitism from the nineteenth century to today’s authoritarian-populist and anti-Zionist movements. The chapter highlights antisemitism’s distinctive features: its amorphous, projection-driven structure; its role as a container for contradictory resentments; and its powerful emotional and conspiratorial appeal. In doing so, it contributes to a critical theory of ideology attuned to the transformations and resurgences of antisemitic thought in the twenty-first century.

Labour, antisemitism and the critique of political economy

Author(s): Bolton, Matthew; Pitts, Frederick Harry

Editor(s): Stoetzler, Marcel

Date: 2023

Topics: Main Topic: Antisemitism, Antisemitism: Left-Wing, Politics, Politics: Political Parties, Antisemitism: Theory

Abstract: This chapter uses the critical theory of antisemitism (e.g. Postone 2006) to analyse the antisemitism crisis which erupted in the British Labour Party under Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership (2015–20). Explanations for the seemingly sudden explosion of antisemitism within leftist milieus commonly focused on the idea of antisemitism as a ‘virus’ imported into the party from outside by extremists (see Gidley et al. 2020 for an account). This chapter challenges this narrative, developing our previous work (2018, 2020a) to argue that the roots of the crisis under Corbyn can be found in the ‘truncated’ or ‘foreshortened’ critique of capitalism (see Kurz 2007; Heinrich 2012) that has been a feature of the British socialist and liberal left since its formation, of which ‘Corbynism’ represented a concentrated form. This worldview regards capitalism as the corruption of an otherwise benign form of productive society by capitalists motivated by greed and personal immorality. The ‘real economy’ of productive national industry is valorised and opposed to unproductive, parasitical global finance, which is taken to fraudulently conjure money out of money (Bonefeld 2014).

Collective Victimhood and Social Prejudice: A Post-Holocaust Theory of Anti-Semitism

Author(s): Antoniou, Giorgos; Dinas, Elias; Kosmidis, Spyros

Date: 2020

Topics: Antisemitism: Discourse and Tropes, Holocaust, Main Topic: Antisemitism, Memory, Surveys, Antisemitism: Attitude Surveys, Prejudice, Antisemitism: Theory

Abstract: Anti-Semitism represents one of the most penetrating forms of prejudice, yet social research has failed to address the causal underpinnings of the phenomenon. To this end, we empirically test the notion that anti-Semitism builds on the legacy of the Holocaust. Standing as the benchmark for collective suffering, the Holocaust creates competition over recognition of the status of the victim. Upward comparisons between victimized ingroups with other victimized outgroups trigger social prejudice. Victimhood, thus, creates an antagonistic view of the Jews that, in turn, fuels anti-Semitic prejudice. We test this theory using data from Greece—the European nation with the highest proportion of anti-Semites—leveraging two survey experiments and a natural experiment. Our results confirm our theoretical expectations, showing that perceived victimhood fuels anti-Semitism. The findings of our research carry important implications for dealing with anti-Semitism and for combating various forms of outgroup prejudice.

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