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Anti-Semitism in the United States

Chapter 2: PREFACE
By Lee J. Levinger
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History - AmericanSociology

About This Book

A sociological study first lays out a theory of group psychology and intergroup contact, then applies it to American history to explain patterns of intolerance toward Jews. It traces religious and social prejudices, the emergence of racialist anti-Jewish movements after the World War, and related reactions such as the Ku Klux Klan; it examines responses organized against anti-Semitism and concludes with reflections on prospects for tolerance and the development of the American over-group. Chapters combine theoretical analysis with historical application to account for causes, expressions, and possible remedies for anti-Jewish sentiment in the United States.

PREFACE

This study, which was submitted as one of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the University of Pennsylvania, has meant the assembling of personal and theoretical interests of various types. It has two chapters of pure theory on which the practical application is based. To the student of social philosophy or sociology, then, chapters 1 and 2 will contain the essentials of the study. The general reader, not interested in the technical basis but in the conclusions, may prefer to omit these chapters from the reading, and to proceed from the introduction directly to the applications of this theory in American history and specifically to the problem of the Jew in America, as developed in chapters 3 to 9.

Grateful acknowledgments are due to Professor Edgar A. Singer, Jr., of the University of Pennsylvania, Professor Julius Drachsler of the College of the City of New York, and Mr. Leon L. Lewis, Secretary of the Anti-Defamation League, for their very stimulating aid, both prior to and during the writing of this study, and to my wife for her assistance in the preparation of the manuscript.

Lee J. Levinger

Wilmington, Delaware, May, 1925.