EXPLORING THE SYMBOLIC RACISM THESIS - THE GERMAN SENSE OF RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE JEWS

The ''symbolic racism'' thesis now prominent in discussions of America n politics holds that racism is expressed through a combination of neg ative racial affect and traditional values. This note provides a compa rative perspective on these debates by investigating the nature of Ger man anti-Semitism through a Linear Structural Relations (LISREL) analy sis of recent survey data. The reveals that among Germans a base anti- Semitic affect is separate from both conservative values and public pe rception of Jews' work ethics and morality. The structural equation po rtion of the LISREL model indicates that negative racial affect greatl y outweighs the other factors in explaining Germans' willingness to as sume responsibility for ''the Jewish Question,'' suggesting that the G erman public bases its attitudes toward Jews on the crudest and most e nduring stereotypes and feels little need to express its reservations in symbolic terms.