Sociology essay
Group behavior dynamics tend to create conditions for the emergence of genocide as the result of the persisting tension between groups with a different racial or ethnic background. Different ethnic or racial groups tend to develop the tension and conflicts because they view representatives of other ethnic or racial groups as outsiders, who have different values, interests and goals. As a result, they view them as potential rivals, while, in the time of profound social, economic and cultural crises, they can slip to the policy of genocide, when they view representatives of other racial or ethnic groups as the potential threat to their survival. At this point, it is possible to refer to the case of Jews and the policy of Holocaust conducted by the Nazi during World War II, as described by Art Speigelman in his Maus: A Survivor’s Tale. The author uncovers the conflict between different ethnic groups represented in the allegoric way as animals. The author shows the policy of genocide conducted by ‘cats’, i.e. Nazi Germans, in relation to ‘mice’, Jews. The author uncovers that cats and mice had different group behavior dynamics. On the one hand, Germans tend to expand their sphere of influence and gain a stronger position in the world, while Jews stuck to their old traditions and wanted to preserve the status quo to retain their traditional lifestyle. The growing power of Germans contributed to the formation of the strong belief that they are in the superior position compared to Jews, whom they viewed as the nation suffering from backwardness because of their devotion to old traditions, unwillingness to change and to gain a stronger position in the competitive struggle with other ethnic groups. Instead, Jews ignored the growing power of Germans and attempted to maintain the status quo but, being the minority, they could not resist to the emerging policy of ethnic discrimination that eventually transformed into the policy of genocide, which became known as Holocaust (Bauer, 131). The book uncovers the fact that the Holocaust was the result of the difference in the group behavior dynamics, when Germans focused on the growth of their influence and tended to the dominance in the society to hold the mainstream position. In stark contrast, Jews held the position of the minority that attempted to stand for its traditions and traditional lifestyle.
At the same time, the case of Holocaust was the ultimate manifestation of racism and discrimination since Germans as the dominant ethnic group focused on the policy of genocide aiming at the physical elimination of ethnic and racial minorities that were different from Germans and what they defined as the Arian race. Germans developed the concept of their racial superiority compared to other racial and ethnic groups. This ideology was created and promoted by the Nazi Party, while Germans gladly accepted this ideology which granted them with the superior position in the society. The popularity of the idea of the racial superiority of Germans was the result of the difficult socioeconomic position, which triggered the emergence of radical ideologies in Germany, which varied from communism to fascism. As a result, Germans suffering from the steep economic decline and deterioration of their quality of living readily accepted the idea of their racial superiority. Moreover, they also accepted the idea that Jews were responsible for their hardships and they held a strong economic position. In such a way, the Nazi Party that was taking power in Germany attempted to extrapolate the responsibility for hardships of Germany on racial minorities and, thus, justified the physical elimination of minorities in terms of the policy of Holocaust. In fact, the Nazi Party exploited the difficult position of German society to promote its ideology, while Jews became scapegoats responsible for hardships of Germany, which though were caused by objective factors, including the defeat of Germany in World War I, reparations Germany had to pay to winners in World War I, the overall economic decline of Germany and global economic crisis as well as many other factors that were not related to minorities, such as Jews.
Jews were discriminated as representatives of minorities. Germans accepted the idea of their racial superiority and exercised this idea to abuse minorities because, in such a way, they manifested their racial superiority and attempted to prove their superior position in society. The racial discrimination was the result of the under-representation of Jews in German politics and culture along with their trend to isolation as they attempted to preserve their cultural identity and they did not develop relations with other ethnic groups (Bard, 195). The racial group behavior dynamic contributed to the emerging racism and discrimination in Germany. The Nazi Party promoted the difference and used the stigmatization of Jews as isolated and different ethnic group to make them subjects to discrimination. The difference of Jews became, therefore, the major cause for their discrimination and oppression, which eventually transformed into the policy of genocide under Holocaust because the difference was not acceptable for Germans and, especially the Nazi Party which promoted the idea of the homogeneous German society, where Germans hold the dominant position, while other nations were treated as inferior and some ethnic groups, like Jews, had to be physically eliminated as ‘unworthy to live’ (Adler, 157).
The sociology of denial was another important element that contributed to the emergence of racism, discrimination and eventually contributed to the rise of the policy of Holocaust in Europe conducted by the Nazi Germany. To put it more precisely, the sociology of denial involved the juxtaposition in the Nazi Germany of Germans to other ethnic and racial groups, including Jews. Germans denied other ethnic and racial groups that ‘occupied the living space’ which Germans believed to belong to them and only to them due to the ideology of the Nazi Party. As a result, the sociology of denial involved the development of a strong and deep-rooted belief that the exclusion of minorities was a norm since minorities could not stand on the equal ground with the mainstream nation, such as Germans. At this point, the sociology of denial in German interpretation had elements of the evolutionary struggle of species for survival, where stronger species held dominant position, while weaker species were doomed to extinction. Hence, Germans perceived Jews as the minority or weak species that had no chance to survive, while the stronger species, i.e. Germans had to eliminate the weaker one to survive in the competitive struggle with other nations and to hold the position they believed they had deserved.
In this regard, the book Maus: Survivor’s Tale by Art Speigelman reveals the sociology of denial through the juxtaposition of cats, who allegorically symbolize Germans, and mice, which allegorically represent Jews (Spiegelman, 5). In fact, cats and mice could not coexist since cats were predators, while mice were the pray for them and they could not live the other way. This was the natural way of living for them and they could not live in peace. However, Speigelman probably could not reveal the full extent to which such sociology of denial was imposed on Germans and Jews (Arad, 145). In fact, it was not the natural way of life for Germans and Jews, although their antagonism and the discrimination of Jews were historically deep-rooted in Germany. Instead, it was the Nazi Party that used the desperate economic position of the nation to radicalize society and promote the idea of the racial superiority of Germans compared to other ethnic and racial groups. Therefore, Germans learned their racial superiority from the radical ideology artificially imposed on them by the Nazi Party, while they could and did live next to Jews for centuries and did not view them as the ethnic group that had to be physically eliminated. On the other hand, the Nazi ideology found the positive feedback in German society because Germans tended to the discrimination of Jews and sociology of denial was historical. In other words, Jews were historically a discriminated group that held the inferior position in German society and the appearance of the Nazi ideology found the support of a large part of the population. As a result, the sociology of denial was the tool that allowed the Nazi Party to exploit the historical relations between Germans and Jews to gain the support of the large part of the population through the promotion of racist ideology.
The perpetrators psychology of the Nazi regime was particularly obvious in the book Maus: Survivor’s Tale through the allegory, when Germans were represented by cats, who were perpetrators pursuing mice/Jews, who were their natural pray. The perpetrators psychology implies that perpetrators are likely to increase the abuse of victims, if victims are defenseless. In case of the Nazi Germany, Jews, victims of German perpetrators were not only defenseless but also they were condemned and pursued by the official ideology that promoted the idea of physical extermination of Jews as the way to win the better position and improve the quality of living. The perpetrators psychology contributed to the growing aggression of Germans in relation to Jews that eventually resulted in the policy of genocide known as Holocaust.
Thus, the book Maus: Survivor’s Tale by Art Spiegelman reveals the profound transformation of German society and relations between different ethnic groups. The author represents those relations in the allegoric form representing Germans and Jews as cats and mice. The author has managed to uncover the essence of the relationship between different ethnic groups. The book reveals the essence of German policy that resulted in the genocide of Jews. The Nazi Party exploited successfully the historic inferior position of Jews to promote their idea of the superiority of Germans turning Jews into the pray that had to be eliminated to allow Germans to improve their quality of living through freeing the living space for them.
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