Abstract: In this article, we argue that an exclusive focus on the generalized aspect of prejudice limits understanding of the structure and genesis of prejudice towards particular outgroups. In order to conceptualize the specific nature of particular prejudices, we propose the differentiated threat approach. This framework postulates that different outgroups challenge diverse realistic and symbolic interests, and that these outgroup specific threats affect various socioeconomic strata and cultural groups differentially. The differentiated threat approach is applied to analyse majority-group Belgians’ attitudes towards immigrants, Muslims, Jews, and homosexuals. The results show that a common denominator of prejudice can be distinguished, but that the prejudices towards the various outgroups contain substantively relevant unique components that are influenced by socio-demographic and attitudinal predictors in diverging ways. Gender traditionalism is found to reinforce Homonegativity and temper Islamophobia at the same time. Feelings of relative deprivation are more strongly related to Islamophobia than to other forms of prejudice, and are unrelated to homonegativity. Religious involvement plays a more decisive role in the formation of anti-Semitism and Homonegativity than it does in the other forms of prejudice. Anti-immigration attitudes show a class gradient that is absent in attitudes towards other outgroups. Our results evidence that the concrete realization of attitudes towards a specific outgroup cannot be understood without paying attention to structural and contextual factors, such as social positions, the nature of intergroup relations, power balances, and elite discourses.
Topics: Ukraine-Russia conflict (2014 onwards), Pilgrimage, Tourism, Main Topic: Other, Sexism and Misogyny, Gender, Antisemitism, Attitudes to Jews, Prejudice, War, Security: Jewish Sense of Security/Insecurity
Abstract: What drives antisemitic hostility in the 21st century? Competing theoretical frameworks provide different answers: the generalist framework views antisemitism as a manifestation of general outgroup hostility common to various
forms of prejudice, while the particularist framework posits that antisemitism today is distinctively linked to antizionist sentiment—enmity toward Zionism, Israel, and its supporters. This study evaluates these frameworks through a comparative, longitudinal case study of antisemitic hostility in Germany, Sweden, and Russia (1990–2020), using a mixed-methods approach to integrate incident counts, victimization surveys, media analysis, and expert interviews. Findings suggest that the particularist framework better explains observed patterns of variation in antisemitic hostility, with flare-ups in the Middle East conflict generating or catalyzing antisemitic hostility in other societies depending on the strength of local antizionist sentiment. The results support new directions
in prejudice research that differentiate between generalized and group-specific forms of hostility, where the latter are highly context-dependent.
Abstract: The Educating Against Prejudice report by social psychologists at the University of Kent presents data on nearly 3,000 school pupils – before starting the Anne Frank Trust programme, after completing it, and again a year later.
83.8% of the young people progress in their knowledge of prejudice, and this increased knowledge drives a significant improvement in their social attitudes.
· 87.6% become more positive towards people from at least one of 12 social groups – Black, Christian, disabled, female, Gypsy Roma Traveller, Jewish, LGBTQ, male, Muslim, old, refugee and white.
· The greatest progress is towards Jewish people, with 59.8% of the young people becoming more positive. Among Muslim young people, the proportion making pro-Jewish progress is even higher – at 65.7%.
· 58% of young people retain their improved attitudes 12 to 18 months later. The long-term progress in attitudes towards Jews is 55% higher in locations where reports of antisemitism are above average.
Abstract: For more than a decade, there has been a discussion about the scope and character of a “Muslim antisemitism” in Europe, spurred on by anti-Jewish harassment and terrorist attacks by Muslims in some European countries.* However, there are only a few major studies on the attitudes of Muslims towards Jews in Europe, while larger studies on the attitude of Jews towards Muslims have so far been missing completely. Based on the data from the 2017 survey, “Attitudes towards Jews and Muslims in Norway. Population Survey and Minority Study” (CHM), it is now possible to investigate how Jews and Muslims in Norway perceive each other, whether they see opportunities for cooperation as minorities and have common experiences of discrimination, what their positioning in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict looks like, and whether it influences their mutual perception. While the focus is on the relationship between Muslims and Jews, in some cases the results for the general Norwegian population are included as a tertium comparationis, since Jews and Muslims form part of Norwegian society.
