I apply the term ‘mobile class’ to a social grouping, which becomes the object of emotions usually directed towards several different classes. A characteristic feature of a mobile class is that its place in the subjectively perceived social structure changes, depending upon who is making the assessment and the degree of his familiarity with the group. The aim of this paper is to show how Jews can be considered a ‘mobile class’, since they are the subject of emotions usually directed by more highly-placed social groups to the lower classes, and, conversely, by the lower social strata to groups of higher social ranking. To illustrate my argument I shall use examples from eighteenth century Poland.

For a mobile class to come into being, a pre-requisite is, in most cases, the decay and disappearance of those characteristics which indicate social ranking. What then occurs is identification of the group on the basis of attributes belonging to various social strata. However the kind of perception which results is brought about by subjective factors. It consists essentially of a number of generalizations that do not have a real basis in reality; or which are based on some specific features of the group, rather than all its characteristics.

The Jews in eighteenth century Poland belonged, together with the burghers and the peasants, to the lower classes. Some of them were engaged directly in servicing the magnate and gentry classes. The subjective categories in which Jews were included were two-fold: the upper classes regarded the Jews as belonging to the lower orders and bestowed upon them emotions reserved for these classes. To them this seemed justified by the position of Jews in the social order. In turn the lower classes tended - especially during periods of social conflict - to identify all Jews on the basis of functions which some of them performed for the upper classes. Thus they looked on the Jews as a group with emotions normally reserved for these classes.

In both cases, subjective categorization becomes at the same time generalization; feelings which might have been justified if directed towards a section of the Jewish community were extended to the group as a whole.