A History of the Study of Anti-Semitism

This chapter focuses on the persistent quest to establish and theoretically ground a core definition of anti-Semitism, drawing out the challenges that emerge and how these definitions have perpetuated confusion and ambiguity. The chapter then offers a comprehensive overview of critical and psychoanalytic scholarship on anti-Semitism, with a focus on the contributions of Sigmund Freud, Stephen Frosh, Rudolph Loewenstein, the early Frankfurt School, Gavin Langmuir, David Nirenberg, and Jonathan Judaken. These works enable the analysis of core theoretical arguments shaping contemporary debates and provide insights into how scholars anchor such discussions. The author demonstrates that these theories revolve around questions related to ambivalence, otherness, and complex reality, paving the way for Zygmunt Bauman’s concept, proteophobia.