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10 Soc. Probs. 56 (1962-1963)
Swastika Offenders: Variations in Etiology, Behavior and Psycho-Social Characteristics

handle is hein.journals/socprob10 and id is 66 raw text is: SWASTIKA OFFENDERS: VARIATIONS IN ETIOLOGY, BEIAVIOR AND PSYCHO-SOCIAL CHARACTERISTICS HERMAN D. STEIN New York School of Social Work, Columbia University JOHN M. MARTIN Fordham University During the winter of 1959-1960 an outbreak of swastika incidents in various parts of the world followed the well publicized desecration of a synagogue in Cologne, Germany. When a rash of such incidents hap- pened in the United States, public at- tention was focused on them by front- page news stories and by television and radio reports. Denunciation was intense not only among Jews but among many segments of the popula- tion. At the time many explanations were offered for the behavior, ranging from some who said it was a childish fad to others who saw it as part of an organized neo-Nazi conspiracy. Several studies,1 some nation-wide in scope, have been published about the more than 600 swastika daubings and related behavior reported in the United States during the nine week period from late December 1959 to the end of February 1960. An additional study, centered in the New York Metropolitan Area,2 fo- cused on local swastika incidents and on the characteristics of the persons 1 These studies include: David Caplovitz and Candace Rogers, Swastika 1960: The Epidemic of Anti-Semitic Vandalism in America, New York: Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith, 1961; Johan Gal- tung, What the High School Students Say: A Survey of Attitudes and Knowledge about Jews and Nazism, New York: Anti-De- famation League of B'nai B'rith, 1961; Howard J. Ehrlich, The Swastika Epi- demic of 1959-1960: Anti-Semitism and Community Characteristics, Social Prob- lems, 9 (Winter, 1962), pp. 264-272; Martin Deutsch, The 1960 Swastika- Smearings: Analysis of the Apprehended Youth, Merrill-Palmer Quarterly of Be- havior and Development, 8 (April, 1962), pp. 1-22. who were apprehended after commit- ting such acts. This paper reports on the New York Area study, and com- pares some of the findings with those of the other studies which recently re- ported on the same phenomenon. ORIENTATION OF THE NEw YORK STUDY Two approaches in the study are relevant for the present analysis: 1) etiology; 2) selection of the behavior. The swastika incidents represented behavior which violated the norms of the larger society, if not necessarily those of the participants. Such deviant behavior is not assumed to be random activity without cause; but rather it is assumed to be behavior having its ori- gins in some combination of psycho- logical and social pressures. The behavior was, therefore, viewed in terms of a series of interacting sys- tems-personality, familial, peer group, community. It was hypothesized that the etiology for this behavior could be found within this network of in- fluences. Any one of the following, for example, could help explain the pressures for this behavior. If several such influences reinforced one another, the pressures would be correspondingly 2 Herman D. Stein, John M. Martin and Alex Rosen, The Swastika Daubings and Related Incidents of Winter, 1960: An Ex- ploratory Study Centered in the New York Metropolitan Area, New York: Research Center, New York School of Social Work, Columbia University, 1961 (mimeo.). The study was supported by the American Jew- ish Committee, with the cooperation of the Committee on Intergroup Relations of New York City. A limited number of copies of the complete report are available from the Research Center.

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