1st Edition
Sociology and the Holocaust A Discipline Grapples with History
For some time the conventional wisdom in the interdisciplinary field of Holocaust studies is that sociologists have neglected this subject matter, but this is not really the case. In fact, there has been substantial sociological work on the Holocaust, although this scholarship has often been ignored or neglected including in the discipline of sociology itself. Sociology and the Holocaust brings this scholarly tradition to light, and in doing so offers a comprehensive synthesis of the vast historical and social science literature on the before, during, and after of the Holocaust—a tour d’horizon from an explicitly sociological perspective. As such, the aim of the book is not simply to describe the chronology of events that culminated in the deaths of 6 million Jews but to draw upon sociology’s “theoretical toolkit” to understand these events and the ongoing legacy of the Holocaust sociologically.
Preface
1 Personal and Professional Roots
A Second Generation Perspective
Terms of the Inquiry
The Indifference of a Discipline
2 On the Shoulders of Giants
Sociologists of the 1930s and 1940s
The Trifocal Lens of Classical Theory
A General Theory and Case Study of Structure and Agency
3 Antisemitism and Pseudoscientific Racism
The Development of Christian Antisemitism
The Confluence of Antisemitism and Racism
Nazi Eugenics and the Medicalization of Genocide
4 The Class Composition and Economics of Nazism
Nazi Party Membership and Election Studies
Economic Exclusion, Aryanization, and Mass Theft
Nazi and Corporate Enterprises
5 The Nazi State, Bureaucracy, and Response of the Jews
The Inner Circle of the Nazi State
Nazi Cultural Organizations
From the Nuremberg Laws to the Final Solution
Ghettoization
Open-Air Shootings and Concentration Camps
6 The Response of the Allies
The Prewar Period
The Wartime Period
The Immediate Postwar Period
7 National Collective Memories of the Holocaust
The Federal Republic of Germany
Israel
The United States
Poland
8 Is It Happening Here?
The New Authoritarianism
The Question of Fascism
The White Power and Patriot Movements
The Radicalization of the Republican Party
Concluding Reflections on Contemporary Antisemitism
References
Index
Biography
Ronald J. Berger is professor emeritus of sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. He is the author of The Holocaust, Religion, and the Politics of Collective Memory (2012) and Surviving the Holocaust (Routledge, 2011).
“Berger’s work will play a significant role in any future investigation of the Holocaust from a multi-disciplinary perspective. Readers of this book will realize how lacking the new field of Holocaust Studies is without the contribution of sociology.”
- Dr. Shay Pilnik, Director, Emil A. and Jenny Fish Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Yeshiva University
"In the context of explaining the Holocaust, Berger attempts to bring sociology back in. He succeeds admirably by discussing the relevance of the sociological classical theorists Marx, Durkheim, and Weber. For example, he addresses Weber’s thought on bureaucracy in the context of the organization of the Nazi killing apparatus. His analysis includes collective memory of the historical events and their victims – highly recommended."
- Lutz Kaelber, Associate Professor of Sociology at University of Vermont, Faculty Committee of the Carolyn and Leonard Miller Center for Holocaust Studies
