UK-based researchers show that anti-hierarchical aggression, totalitarianism, and belief in malevolent global conspiracies are the biggest indicators of antisemitic attitudes, in a study published last May.
The study was published in the peer-reviewed Nature Journal and was attempting to understand how antisemitism, traditionally a right-wing problem, has become prominent in the left.
The research split antisemitism into Judeophobic Antisemitism, representing the "old" antisemitism which originates in pre-Israel times whereas Antizionist Antisemitism focuses on extreme and irrational anti-Israel positions that are a form of disguised antisemitism.
The research conducted between October and December 2020 showed strong correlations between belief in various conspiracy theories, including malevolent global conspiracies, personal well-being conspiracies, government malfeasance conspiracies, and Judeophobic Antisemitism.
The researchers gave these as examples of conspiracies "A small secret group of people is responsible for making all major world decisions such as going to war," "The spread of certain viruses and/or diseases is the result of the deliberate, concealed efforts of some organisations," and "The government permits or perpetrates acts of terrorism on its own soil, disguising its involvement."
Belief in malevolent global conspiracies was the strongest predictor, according to the researchers.
Support for totalitarian political systems was also a strong indicator of Judeophobic Antisemitism, with most agreeing with this statement “To bring about great changes for the benefit of mankind often requires cruelty and even ruthlessness."
All three factors of Right-Wing Authoritarianism, a measure of someone's willingness to submit to authority and carry out the orders of this authority, were positively correlated with Judeophobic Antisemitism whereas they were negatively correlated with Antizionist Antisemitism.
The reverse was true for Left-wing Authoritarianism, where its factors were positively correlated to Antizionist Antisemitism and negatively correlated to Judeophobic Antisemitism.
David Hirsh, one of the researchers told PsyPost.org "On the one hand, antisemites who believe the democratic state to be a trick played on ‘the people’ by ‘the Jews’ might feel justified in tearing it down and taking repressive action against those responsible. On the other hand, political movements that embrace conspiracy fantasies may feel justified in repressing political opponents, are not afraid to overthrow the democratic state, and are also likely to be open to antisemitism."
Ethnicity a big factor
Ethnicity is one of the biggest demographic factors in deciding antisemitism, with researchers finding that non-white ethnic groups exhibited more antisemitism than white ethnic groups, both Judeophobic and Antizionist Antisemitism. Researchers explain this by showing how ethnicity correlates heavily with beliefs in Malevolent Global conspiracies. It should be noted the research was conducted exclusively in the UK and thus can only indicate antisemitic attitudes in the UK and not abroad.
Daniel Allington, one of the researchers told PsyPost.org "All our data were collected in the UK, so it’s possible that things may work differently in other countries."
Adding, "We also don’t really know why these attitudes are associated with antisemitism. My hunch is that they all have something to do with a rejection of the modern world: there’s the idea that the evil people are secretly running the show, there’s the feeling that we’d be better off without democracy, and then there’s the desire for revenge against whoever seems to be doing well in the world as it is."