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7 - Tajfel and Bernstein

The Limits of Theory

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 September 2019

Michael Billig
Affiliation:
Loughborough University
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Summary

This chapter pays tribute to the social psychologist Henri Tajfel, famous for formulating social identity theory. The chapter asks why Tajfel did not apply his theory to the event that brought him into academic life: the Holocaust. Clues can be found in a short introduction which he wrote for new edition of Peretz Bernstein’s book of anti-Semitism. Bernstein had proposed a general theory of group relations to explain anti-Semitism. What Tajfel, and also Bernstein, wrote after the war about Bernstein’s pre-war book is revealing. The sort of language which might have been appropriate for writing about anti-Semitism in the 1920s had become wholly inappropriate after the Holocaust. The singularity of the Holocaust would be misplaced if were seen merely as an example of ‘prejudice’. Significantly, Tajfel avoided using his own ‘social identity theory’ to explain Nazism. His praise of Bernstein expresses an understanding and depth of feeling that show the limitations of theory.

Type
Chapter
Information
More Examples, Less Theory
Historical Studies of Writing Psychology
, pp. 190 - 216
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2019

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  • Tajfel and Bernstein
  • Michael Billig, Loughborough University
  • Book: More Examples, Less Theory
  • Online publication: 12 September 2019
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108696517.007
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  • Tajfel and Bernstein
  • Michael Billig, Loughborough University
  • Book: More Examples, Less Theory
  • Online publication: 12 September 2019
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108696517.007
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Tajfel and Bernstein
  • Michael Billig, Loughborough University
  • Book: More Examples, Less Theory
  • Online publication: 12 September 2019
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108696517.007
Available formats
×