Volume 4 No 2 - Journal for the Study of Antisemitism

2012] ARE ANTISEMITES STILL AUTHORITARIANS? 497Adorno and his colleagues finally excluded all antisemitism-relateditems from their final Fascism scales (Adorno et al., 1950; see, for example,Forms 40 and 45). Neither of the revised Authoritarianism scales that wereproduced in the following decades contained any items regarding Jews.Three main factors can be identified behind this shift. First is a methodologicalone: the argument was that the authors tried to measureantisemitism without asking any questions about Jews. The researchersdecided not to use Antisemitism scales in classrooms with considerableJewish minorities in order to avoid offending the students; furthermore, oneof the local branches of the Anti-Defamation League was protesting againstusing these scales because, the ADL argued, they could spread antisemitism.The second objection was the theoretical argument that they attemptedto find the most important background variables behind the potential fascistpersonality without focusing merely on antisemitism. Third, the empiricalargument was that their results seemed to prove the idea that antisemitism ispart of a set of prejudices toward outgroup members in general: antisemiteswere typically found to be anti-Japanese, anti-Black, anti-Catholic, andanti-homosexual at the same time.The original research route of authoritarianism began with antisemitismand moved toward a more abstract, more general theory on the personality’srelation to power and its various manifestations (social hierarchy,norms, people in power, and people without power). Therefore, after thepublication of TAP, antisemitism in social psychology researches becamemerely a symptom of a broader (attitudinal or personality) “disorder” i.e.,the Authoritarian Syndrome. There is thus no need to measure antisemitism;it is obviously part of this syndrome.But is it still self-evident that authoritarianism is strongly associatedwith antisemitism? Or, to turn the question around: is it still obvious thatthe most important cause behind antisemitism is still the Authoritarian Syndrome?There are several counterarguments to be raised:• According to the revisions of the original researches on authoritarianism,authoritarianism is not a “Personality Syndrome,” as Adorno andhis colleagues asserted. It is, instead, an attitude cluster that is pickedup by learning from the broader social environment rather than somethingthat is “imprinted” in the personality in early childhood (see, forexample, Altemeyer, 1981, 2006). In line with this statement, accordingto Jost and Sidanius (2004, p. 41), “It seems plausible that correlationsamong authoritarianism, ethnocentrism, education, and socioeconomicstatus could arise from cultural associations rather than personalitydynamics per se [ . . . ]. And even if one were to accept thevalidity of the authoritarian syndrome, the original researchers were