Language:
English
Year of publication:
2008
Titel der Quelle:
Holocaust Studies
Angaben zur Quelle:
14,1 (2008) 1-34
Keywords:
Goldhagen, Daniel Jonah.
;
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) Historiography
Abstract:
Examines the crucial first chapter of Goldhagen's book "Hitler's Willing Executioners", where the author sets forth his analytical framework - the social theory underpinning his case for eliminationist antisemitism. Here Goldhagen resorts to the conceptions of cognitive anthropology and of symbolic interactionism. Argues that Goldhagen's thesis and its methodology do not stand up to these theories; e.g. his book lacks a close analysis of the "ordinary" German's natural discourse, which, according to the methods of cognitive anthropology, could prove his thesis. Moreover, Goldhagen's thesis reduces culture from a complex cognitive phenomenon to a monolithic banality. Nevertheless, Goldhagen's merit is in the fact that he drew attention to new analytical approaches grounded in cognitive science, communication theory, and psychology, and pointed the way to new research frameworks and methodologies that can aid in illuminating the mental makeup of Holocaust perpetrators.
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