Formulation and Validation of a Scale of Antisemitic Stereotypes (SASS)

Abstract

Antisemitism remains a serious issue in the United States, but lacks up-to-date, theory-based measurement. The stereotype content model (SCM) explains antisemitic stereotypes as an envious prejudice toward stereotypically high-competence, low-warmth Jewish people (Fiske, Cuddy, Glick, & Xu, 2002). Developing a Scale of Anti-Semitic Stereotypes (SASS) tentatively supported the SCM: participants’ spontaneously generated competence items were similar to those included in the Scale of Anti-Asian American Stereotypes (SAAAS; Lin et al., 2005), another envious prejudice. However, exploratory factor analysis did not reveal a two-factor structure, but an undifferentiated antipathy towards Jews. Ascertaining the scale’s predictive validity found correlations between SASS scores and participants’ knowledge about Jewish culture and people, and number of subtypes of Jewish people identified, but not the number of Jewish friends reported. SASS scores not only correlated with respondents’ right-wing authoritarianism, social dominance orientation, and political conservatism, but also predicted anti-Black racism and Anti-Asian American stereotypes. SASS scores correlated with implicit attitudes about, and blatant dehumanization of, Jewish people, as well as systematic overestimations of the number of Jewish professionals, especially bankers. Like SASS factors, IATs revealed expected implicit associations between Jewish people and coldness, but also between Jewish people and incompetence. Future research should investigate whether people might differentially evaluate different subtypes of Jews: “Secular” Jews may seem high in competence but low in warmth, consistent with international SCM ratings; “religious” Jews (Orthodox) may fit a different pattern. Keywords: Jewish, Judaism, Antisemitism, stereotype content model (SCM), blatant dehumanization, implicit attitudes, subtyping