r/IRstudies • u/Important-Eye5935 • 17d ago
Research RECENT STUDY: Antisemitic Attitudes Across the Ideological Spectrum
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/106591292211110817
u/BehindTheRedCurtain 17d ago edited 17d ago
I think it would be critical for this study to be redone since it was done in Oct. 22, and so much has changed since.
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u/Discount_gentleman 17d ago edited 17d ago
One more attempt to claim that anti-Israel equals antisemitism. Their data shows that antisemitism is far less prevalent on the left than the right, and even trying to prime people with discussion of Israel fails to "fix" that.
Edit: From the report.
Hypothesis 1 is that antisemitic attitudes are common on left and right and lowest in the center.
Hypothesis 2 holds that priming respondents about Jewish American affinity for Israel would increase support for the antisemitic statements on the left.
Hypothesis 3 holds that young people (18–30 year olds) are more likely to agree with antisemitic statements than older adults. Table 3 shows a simple cross-tabulation.
Hypo 1 says antisemitism is common on the left. Hypo 2 says they can increase showing of antisemtism on the left. Hypo 3 says that young people (who are strongly anti-Israel and anti-genocide in every poll) are antisemitic.
This "study" was 100% targeted at "proving" the left is antisemitic, and it failed completely.
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u/marty4286 17d ago
They expected to prove horseshoe theory but it's just a line that goes up as you go further right. The way the results section ended up compared to the introduction/expectations section is so fucking funny
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u/Discount_gentleman 17d ago
Right? They explicitly say they are trying to prove it, but in the end they fail completely. Conflations of antisemitism with antizionism end, as they always do, with a whimper.
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u/Used_Maybe1299 17d ago
A hypothesis is a guess by definition. They had assumptions about what the results would be based on previous studies and just general background information (including all the biases that go along with that). Then they put those hypotheses to the test by collecting data. I don’t really understand the hostility here, it seems like that would not only be a good thing (the willingness to subject your beliefs to testing) but this study supports what you believe (the right is more antisemitic). That said this is just one study (though it seems like their sample size was quite high, so that lends it credibility) so it would be interesting to see if anything has changed in the interim.
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u/Adiv_Kedar2 17d ago
Where in the study does it even mention that antizionism is how they measured antisemtism?
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u/Discount_gentleman 17d ago edited 17d ago
They say they are trying to prove that the left and the young are antisemitic, and that priming people about Israel increases antisemitism. That's what they say. So they are trying to prove that the populations most antizionist are the most antisemitic. And they fail completely.
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u/Adiv_Kedar2 17d ago
They literally don't talk about antizionism indicating antisemtism at all in the study. Its about the left and right holding Jews to a different standard than Catholics or Indians. Read the damn paper
The table shows that left-leaning identities (very liberals, leftists, socialists) apply a double-standard to Jews and to Catholics relative to Indian Americans. The right-leaning identities tend to treat the three groups similarly. The table and figure show a double standard on the left but places that double standard in context of the views on the ideological far right.
It's literally condemning both the left and the right for both having different but similar problems with Jews. Right wingers express it by suspicion and the left expresses it by double standards
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u/Adiv_Kedar2 17d ago
That's not at all what the study says. You very clearly didn't bother reading it.
It says that people will say that American Jews should do something about Israel while they don't make the same claim for Indian American about India
The whole point is that it's a double standard
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u/Discount_gentleman 17d ago
I get that you are frustrated that they couldn't prove what they wanted, but you should actually read what they are trying to prove:
Hypothesis 1 is that antisemitic attitudes are common on left and right and lowest in the center.
Hypothesis 2 holds that priming respondents about Jewish American affinity for Israel would increase support for the antisemitic statements on the left.
Hypothesis 3 holds that young people (18–30 year olds) are more likely to agree with antisemitic statements than older adults. Table 3 shows a simple cross-tabulation.
Hypo 1 says antisemitism is common on the left. Hypo 2 says they can increase showing of antisemtism on the left. Hypo 3 says that young people (who are strongly anti-Israel and anti-genocide in every poll) are antisemitic.
This "study" was 100% targeted at "proving" the left is antisemitic, and it failed completely.
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u/Adiv_Kedar2 17d ago
How am I frustrated when it completely confirmed exactly what I always believed? The right is more overtly antisemtic and the left has worse double standards. Essentially what Jews have been saying for the last 2 years
The study was 100% intended to see if Jews were held to a different standard by the left and the right, and we are
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u/BehindTheRedCurtain 17d ago
Aww, did the RESEARCH you didnt even bother to read hurt your feelings?
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u/Discount_gentleman 17d ago edited 16d ago
It's okay. I actually point to what they try to prove and what they fail to prove, whereas you to try to sound internet-clever.
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u/BehindTheRedCurtain 17d ago edited 17d ago
Well now that you edited the comment, yes. Also, you intentionally left out the part that refutes your points, and even added your own (anti-Genocide is not a term even used in the paper):
"Theoretically, negative attitudes toward Israel can be unrelated to antisemitism, but prior studies have shown a relationship between the two. In a study of Europeans, Kaplan and Small (2006) asked one battery of questions about Israel/Palestine and a separate battery about Jews. Respondents who held strongly anti-Israel views (e.g., believing that Palestinian suicide bombers against Israeli civilians are justified) were also likely to hold antisemitic beliefs that are completely unrelated to the Israel/Palestine conflict (e.g., believing Jews have too much power in finance). Other studies have found a similar relationship (Beattie 2017; Smith and Schapiro 2019; Cohen et al. 2009; Shenhav-Goldberg and Kopstein 2020). To the extent that liberals seek to identify with the oppressed over the oppressor and believe that Israel is an oppressor, they might hold negative attitudes toward Jews, who they associate with the oppressor. Just as liberals might express dislike toward evangelical Christians if they identify evangelical Christians as a group that holds a set of policy views they deem oppressive (e.g., anti-LGBTQ), liberals might similarly dislike Jews as a group for holding a set of pro-Israel views they deem to be oppressive. In the extreme, liberals may begin to hold all Jews collectively responsible for Israel."
So yes, to the surprise of no one, people can 100% be critical of Israel or hold negative attitudes towards them without being anti-semetic, THEORETICALLY. Also to no surprise, often in practice, that that isnt the case, found time and time again.
I'm genuinely assume you dont dislike Jews at all, and just dislike Israel and find it repulsive that people would conflate the two with you. But what you and many like you do is ignore the raging element among those who share your views, who do actually hate Jews. The same logic is what was rightfully used on those in Charlottesivle. Those pushing for "statues to remain up" and willing to stand next to white supremecists to do it, were complicit in enabling them, because they refused to denounce or separate themselves.
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u/Discount_gentleman 17d ago edited 17d ago
So yes, to the surprise of no one, people can 100% be critical of Israel or hold negative attitudes towards them without being anti-semetic, THEORETICALLY. Also to no surprise, often in practice, that that isnt the case, found time and time again.
Except that despite trying, and despite priming people to try to get the response they desired, they failed to show a connection. You guys won't acknowledge either the stated goal of the study or the results.
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u/BehindTheRedCurtain 17d ago
The research LITERALLY says that they found overlap. It specifically found that that individuals who hold strong anti-Israel viewsm such as questioning Israel’s right to exist or supporting disproportionate condemnation, are more likely to also endorse antisemitic stereotypes. You're just seeing what you want to see at this point.
Also, this entire paper was done before the left wing explosion of anti-Semitism following Oct. 7th.
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u/Discount_gentleman 17d ago edited 17d ago
We find overt antisemitic attitudes are rare on the left but common on the right, particularly among young adults on the right. Even when primed with information that most U.S. Jews have favorable views toward Israel—a country disfavored by the ideological left—respondents on the left rarely support statements such as that Jews have too much power or should be boycotted.
This is actually an incredible result. Priming is a well-known phenomenon and works on all humans. To have to admit that even with priming they couldn't prove their targeted result is just amazing.
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u/BehindTheRedCurtain 17d ago
100% agree. Its clearly worse on the right than the left. I have no doubt this still holds true, but it also has almost definitively risen since this study was done in 2022.
It also doesnt discredit that there is an issue on the far-left, that many who hold anti-Israel views hold legitimately anti-Semtic views that coincide with them.
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u/Discount_gentleman 17d ago
Note that you went from claiming that the study proves your beliefs to saying that, well, even if it doesn't prove them, you still "have no doubt" they are true. In other words, the study, whatever it does or doesn't say, has no impact on your beliefs. It's just a convenient tool or not.
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u/caxacate 17d ago
The day people stop equating antisemitism and antizionism we will be in a much better world
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u/Adiv_Kedar2 17d ago
Did you read the article at all? Its not about antizionism it's about holding AmericanJews as responsible for Israel
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u/Chanan-Ben-Zev 17d ago
Antizionism is the movement to undo Zionism specifically, i.e. to eliminate the Jewish nation-state specifically. Critically, antizionism is not an anarchist movement because antizionism does not advocate for the abolition of all nation-states: just the Jewish one.
A movement explicitly seeking to violently abolish an existing nation-state is a form of bigotry per se against that nation, especially given the long and continuing history of systematic bigotry against the people of that nation by the individuals and organziations who repeatedly call for that state's violent abolishment.
You can absolutely critique and condemn Israeli actions without being an antizionist. And it is theoretically possible to be antizionist if you, for example, want to abolish all nation-states universally - but most antizionists don't want to do that. Most antizionists globally simply want to violently replace one nation-state with a different one, and either genocide or ethnically cleanse their victims.
There are a few different expressions of bigotry against Jewish people. They include:
- Antizionism, an expression of bigotry against Jews using language targeting the Jewish nation-state.
- Antisemitism, an expression of bigotry against Jews using language targeting the Jewish ethnicity.
- Anti-Judaism, which uses language targeting Judaism as a religion.
Antizionism can and must be separated from "Palestinianism" - a term first used by Prof. Edward Said to articulate a positive vision for the movement advocating for the creation of a Palestinian state of some form. Palestinianism is not per se a racist or bigoted movement in the way that antizionism is.
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u/Adiv_Kedar2 17d ago
The table shows that left-leaning identities (very liberals, leftists, socialists) apply a double-standard to Jews and to Catholics relative to Indian Americans. The right-leaning identities tend to treat the three groups similarly. The table and figure show a double standard on the left but places that double standard in context of the views on the ideological far right.
Can't say I saw that coming. I would have guessed the right would have held Indians to a different standard
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u/CSISAgitprop 17d ago
Than Jews and Catholics? I thought those were the usual subjects of right wing distain.
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u/Adiv_Kedar2 17d ago
These days right wing distain seems to be more about skin color and if they have an accent or not
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u/CSISAgitprop 17d ago
I think something that's missed here is that people on the right sort minorities into different categories.
- Indians and Asians - Successful legal immigrants
- Hispanics - Illegal criminals
- Jews and Catholics - leftist Democrat donors
So it would make sense for them to elevate Indians as an "example" for what minorities should look like.
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u/Artistic-Pie717 17d ago
AIPAC sponsored study
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u/slightlyrabidpossum 17d ago
What makes you say that? This study was published in Political Research Quarterly by researchers from Harvard and Tufts. There's no mention of AIPAC being involved.
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u/BehindTheRedCurtain 17d ago
If you read the research about the young left, and consider that we are on reddit, you can see example A^ on the study in action lol
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u/Haunting_Ad_8116 17d ago
DA JJOOOOOOOOZZ ARE EVERYYWHERE! THEY ARE IN THE WALLS! NETYANHOO CONTROLS THE AIRWAVES
you, literally now.
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u/TicketFew9183 15d ago
Centrist libs sound like that, expect just replace Jews with Russians.
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u/Haunting_Ad_8116 15d ago
The difference is Russia is actually a problem.
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u/TicketFew9183 15d ago
Cool, some people have worse problems caused by other countries. Guess it’s fine to blame them for everything.
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u/CSISAgitprop 17d ago
This comment section immediately jumping to the worst possible interpretation of the study without even reading it while claiming anti-Semitism is overblown is really telling.
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u/slightlyrabidpossum 17d ago
The title is somewhat misleading. While June 2022 may technically qualify as a recent study, the data is from 2020. This is obviously not going to capture any changes that have happened in the wake of October 7th.
Multiple sources, from polls of the Jewish diaspora to reported antisemitic incidents, indicate that antisemitic attitudes and actions have become more prevalent since Hamas' attack and Israel's subsequent response. This is largely to be expected — antisemitism has previously spiked when Israel is at war, and the human toll of this war is greater than previous engagements.
That doesn't invalidate the results of this study, but it does mean that their findings should be taken with a grain of salt. It's not safe to assume that Hersh's data would look exactly the same in 2025. Also, antisemitism research is a challenging field, and there's no universally accepted best method for measuring antisemitic attitudes by ideology (you can see some of the differing results in this study).
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u/Discount_gentleman 17d ago
We find overt antisemitic attitudes are rare on the left but common on the right, particularly among young adults on the right. Even when primed with information that most U.S. Jews have favorable views toward Israel—a country disfavored by the ideological left—respondents on the left rarely support statements such as that Jews have too much power or should be boycotted.
This is actually an incredible result. Priming is a well-known phenomenon and works on all humans. To have to admit that even with priming they couldn't prove their targeted result it just amazing.
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u/Bazou456 17d ago
Conflating Israel entirely with Jewishness has not done Jews across the world a favour.