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In a remarkable symposium several authors have studied the complicated problem of anti-Semitism, either from a psychoanalytic point of view, or at least with concepts derived from psychoanalysis. The only exception is the preface by Gordon W. Allport, who, although sympathetic to the efforts of the authors, is reluctant to follow all their conclusions. He attributes his scepticism to his 'restricted layman's view of the matter'. The book has the qualities and shortcomings of all symposia: it has the advantage of variety; it has the defects of sketchiness and of lack of synthesis.
Each contributor to the symposium has written one chapter: Max Horkheimer, Sociological Background of the Psychoanalytic Approach; Otto Fenichel, Elements of a Psychoanalytic Theory of Anti-Semitism; Ernst Simmel, Anti-Semitism and Mass Psychopathology; Bernhard Berliner, On Some Religious Motives of Anti-Semitism; Douglass W. Orr, Anti-Semitism and the Psychopathology of Everyday Life; Else Frenkel-Brunswik and R. Nevitt Sanford, The Anti-Semitic Personality: A Research Report; T. W. Adorno, Anti-Semitism and Fascist Propaganda.
Dr. Horkheimer points to certain economic and social changes in modern society which might be relevant in furthering modern anti-Semitism. The gradual concentration in 'strong centralized agencies' of not only production but also of the sphere of distribution has, according to him, led to the gradual dissappearance in the modern economic structure of the 'sphere of circulation' which was the preferred sphere of Jewish economic activities. As a corollary there exists, according to Horkheimer, a change in the formation of spiritual individuals with a developed independent superego. These factors are important in the 'crisis of occidental culture'. What the author unfortunately does not elaborate on is why these latter changes might lead to an increase in anti-Semitic reactions.
Fenichel's contribution is a 'modified version of a paper published