A commenter on my previous blog entry (Liberal Bias III) asked, "Why is there so little research on the accuracy of stereotypes of Jews?" There is, after all, plenty of research on stereotypes of many other groups, especially racial, ethnic, and gender groups, including plenty of research on the accuracy of those stereotypes. So why not on Jews? This is a killer question, though the question should really be broader: Why is there so little research on stereotypes of and prejudice against Jews more generally?
It is hard to know for sure, but my best guess is -- liberal bias. Bias takes many forms, two of which have been addressed in my prior blog posts (evaluating research that advances liberal narratives more positive than identical quality research that contests those narratives; overt hostility to research that contests those narratives). An entirely different form of bias is asking only certain types of questions. The type of question one asks can frame and limit the types of answers one gets.
For example, if one asks "What was Babe Ruth bad at?" one will get only information on what the Babe was bad at. If one has only info on what the Babe was bad at (he struck out a lot and was not very fast), one is likely to get the impression that the Babe was not a particularly good ballplayer.
What does this have to do with the lack of research on stereotypes about Jews? Liberals are often heavily interested in oppression and victimization. Jews, in the U.S., and much of the rest of the world, are currently doing pretty well for themselves. They are typically over-represented in professions, have (on average) considerably higher incomes than average, and Israel is both relatively wealthy (more like a European country than a third world country) and a regional military power. So, although there are lots of individual exceptions, overall, on average, as a group, compared to many other groups, Jews are doing pretty well.
Liberals are far more likely to shine their scientific flashlights on stereotypes that play a role in oppression, disadvantage, and victimization. Racism, sexism, homophobia, Islamophobia, and the like. And there is nothing inherently wrong and a great deal to value in research designed to understand the social processes creating oppression. However, because Jews are relatively successful, they are far less likely to be on liberals'"victimization radar" than are many other groups that have received scientific attention.
Given the virulence and energy underlying hostility to Jews in many places around the world, this reflects, in my view, a serious blind spot in modern social science perspectives. Modern anti-Semitism has a distressingly high level of social and psychological reality, and is poorly understood because it has been minimally studied by scientific, empirically-oriented social scientists.
Select References and Resources
Cohen, F., Jussim, L., Harber, K., & Bhasin, G. (2009). Modern anti-Semitism and anti-Israeli attitudes. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 97, 290-306.
Anti-Semitism in the 21s Century: The Resurgence. This is a PBS documentary that does a terrific job of documenting the resurgence of anti-Semitism in Europe and the Middle East