ABSTRACT
This chapter offers a comprehensive synthesis, imbued with a sociological sensibility, of the social science literature on the Holocaust. It discusses the Holocaust into the disciplinary mainstream of sociology, countering the tendency to marginalize the genocide from conventional sociology courses and general concerns of sociological inquiry. The chapter traces the emergence of this new international norm against genocide and the problem of putting this norm into practice. It then aims to contextualize the norm in terms of the more general problem of social solidarity and the exclusionary social processes that deny the humanity of all too many human beings. The chapter examines the ongoing dilemma of Christian-Jewish coexistence as a representative case of the challenges that confront efforts to construct inclusionary societies that are fully incorporative of social differences. It considers how far the United States is from incorporating Muslim Americans into the religious core of the nation to understand the limits of hyphenation.
