Discrimination Studies: Research Field Definition, Theoretical Cartography and a Case-Study

Abstract

This article offers a theoretical overview of the interdisciplinary field known as Discrimination Studies, reframed in Serbian as "oppression research" to capture its emphasis on systemic injustices. The introduction proposes this conceptual framing, situates the field relative to allied disciplines (e.g., sociology, psychology, and law) and activist movements, and delineates its core concerns: patterns of unequal treatment, justificatory ideologies, and institutional mechanisms.

The analysis begins with a survey of pivotal theoretical frameworks and empirical studies from the United States, highlighting structural/institutional, discursive/cultural, and social-psychological approaches, alongside intersectionality as a unifying lens for understanding compounded marginalizations. It then shifts to European trajectories, examining how postcolonial legacies, mass migration, and debates over racial, religious, and ethnic minorities have shaped research, often framing racism as "foreignness" rather than overt hierarchy.

A dedicated section explores the German contribution, tracing the institutionalized study of antisemitism through the Zentrum für Antisemitismusforschung (ZfA) in Berlin as a cornerstone institution. This is contextualized within Critical Theory's intellectual legacy—particularly the Frankfurt School's analysis of antisemitism as a symptom of modernity and authoritarianism—which provided foundational impulses for postwar German scholarship. The discussion culminates in contemporary paradigms, including the gruppenbezogene Menschenfeindlichkeit (GMF) model, which systematizes diverse forms of misanthropy (e.g., racism, sexism, Islamophobia) as interconnected ideological syndromes rooted in inequality.

The article concludes by reviewing social upheavals—such as reunification-era violence and the NSU murders—that galvanized anti-racism in German academia and activism. As a case study, it spotlights the Decoding Antisemitism project, a hybrid digital-discourse initiative that fuses qualitative insights from these traditions with computational methods, including AI-trained models for media analysis. This exemplifies how emerging technologies can extend oppression research paradigms, enabling scalable detection of hate speech while preserving critical depth.