Not sure if this should be a comment to Professor Casey's post this morning about the stereotyping blogger, but I was writing this yesterday, so here goes:
In Saturday’s class, we discussed the respectable and less-respectable uses of stereotyping, noting it can be a dangerous, “risky, offensive, and non-productive exercise.” Negative stereotypes have a way of entering the unconscious of people and from there have the ability to impact public policy.
In the May/June issue of The Boston Review, Neil Malhotra and Yotam Margalit of Stanford University write about anti-Semitism and the economic crisis.
http://bostonreview.net/BR34.3/malhotra_margalit.php
They state much media coverage of the Bernard Madoff scandal included extensive references to his ethnic background and his connections to the Jewish community.
In the May/June issue of The Boston Review, Neil Malhotra and Yotam Margalit of Stanford University write about anti-Semitism and the economic crisis.
http://bostonreview.net/BR34.3/malhotra_margalit.php
They state much media coverage of the Bernard Madoff scandal included extensive references to his ethnic background and his connections to the Jewish community.
They conducted a study exploring people’s responses to the economic collapse trying to figure out how anti-Semitism might come into play. Their results were fairly dramatic and did indicate anti-Semitism plays a role in how people perceive the crisis, especially when prompted by questions that contain specific reference to Madoff’s ethnicity or his connection to the Jewish community. Surprisingly, they found a larger incidence of anti-Semitism in their results from Democrats over Republicans.
In follow up questions, non-Jews that were prompted with information about Madoff’s ethnicity were twice as likely as those that were not to oppose tax cuts to big business in the wake of the financial disaster. This is an indication that unconscious negative stereotypes can filter through to public opinion about policy responses to a crisis, which ultimately could have an impact on how legislators fashion legislation.
The authors remind the reader this is not the first time in history an economic downturn has sparked anti-Semitic sentiments. A recent report in the Vienna Review states that anti-Semitism is also on the rise again in European countries.
http://www.viennareview.net/story/02458-anti-semitism-right
And a report by the Anti-Defamation League shows that overall, 31 percent of respondents across Europe blame Jews in the financial industry either “a great deal,” “a good amount” or “a little” for the current global economic crisis.
http://www.adl.org/PresRele/ASInt_13/5465_13.htm
This could have policy implications for European nations as well.
The authors remind the reader this is not the first time in history an economic downturn has sparked anti-Semitic sentiments. A recent report in the Vienna Review states that anti-Semitism is also on the rise again in European countries.
http://www.viennareview.net/story/02458-anti-semitism-right
And a report by the Anti-Defamation League shows that overall, 31 percent of respondents across Europe blame Jews in the financial industry either “a great deal,” “a good amount” or “a little” for the current global economic crisis.
http://www.adl.org/PresRele/ASInt_13/5465_13.htm
This could have policy implications for European nations as well.
Carol Starmack
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