In this deeply thoughtful book, Elisabeth Young-Bruehl turns a critical lens on prejudice. Surveying the study of prejudice since World War II, Young-Bruehl suggests an approach that distinguishes between different types of prejudices, the people who hold them, the social and political settings that promote them, and the human needs they fulfill. Startling, challenging, and courageous, this work offers an unprecedented analysis of prejudice.
This book contains much treatment of theories of prejudice(s) and their history that shows a great deal of knowledge and critical insight. However, its own thesis is psychoanalytic, with references to Freud himself, so based on what I know, I have to dismiss it as pseudoscientific. Thus, this is in some ways a very good book about the topic, but it lacks a credible central thesis (and reading it also means having to read annoying stuff about potty training and your mother's penis).