ABSTRACT
In Anti-Semite and Jew , Jean-Paul Sartre (1948/1995) draws a portrait of the ‘anti-Semite’ as a sociopsychological type. Sartre’s portrait is not merely a description of a type, but a morality play, where the ‘anti-Semite’ is an actor on the scene of French society of the time. Although it is a particular portrait, general aspects of anti-Semitism as a tradition of persecution can be also identifi ed in Sartre’s account. There is a relevance here to social psychology. A parallel can be drawn between Sartre’s portrait of the anti-Semite and that of the ‘extremist’ offered by social psychologists. The ‘extremist’, like the ‘anti-Semite’, is a certain kind of person – someone who can be described by what he or she thinks, feels, and ultimately, does.
