After the shooting in Pittsburgh, one of the issues that I would like to address in class is the question of anti-semitism – its sources, its recurrence (not only in our own time, but throughout history), how to respond to it, and so forth.

Yesterday’s New York Times included an article by a social psychologist entitled “The Psychology of Anti-Semitism: Why is prejudice against Jewish people so often expressed in sudden waves of virulent, even exterminatory attacks?”
[www.nytimes.com]

But I found the explanation offered – here’s an excerpt – to be sadly deficient:
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In our research, a widespread stereotype of Jewish people, like that of other socioeconomically successful minorities such as Asian-Americans, falls in the competent-but-cold quadrant. Groups in this quadrant elicit respect but also resentment for their success. We call this “envious prejudice.”
How envious prejudice operates turns out to depend on how stable the world feels.
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Any suggestions of good source material that could be used with middle and high school students?

My thanks,
EF