Taguieff is the author of a number of books and papers on
racism and
antisemitism, including The Force of Prejudice: On Racism and Its Doubles (2001) and Rising from the Muck: The New Antisemitism in Europe (2004). He is known in particular for his studies on the French
National Front and
populism.[2]
Beliefs and works
On racism
In La Force du préjugé – essai sur le racisme et ses doubles (1987), Taguieff analyzed several different types of racism:
The second type is insidiously hosted by the
Enlightenment philosophy of
universalism: its dream of unity of mankind may bring it, in specific and extreme cases, to the will to annihilate all cultural differences, amounting to effective
genocide or
ethnocides. Taguieff's point is not in declaring that the Enlightenment philosophy is racist in itself, but extreme forms of this will of universality may lead, in practice, to the destruction of the plurality of cultures and to the rejection of even moderate forms of
multiculturalism.
The third and more recent type has integrated the
cultural relativists' attacks against racism. This new form of racism has reversed the famous anti-racist arguments of
ethnologistClaude Lévi-Strauss. According to Lévi-Strauss, different cultures are incommensurable, and, because of this, each one thinks progress and superiority is on its side - Lévi-Strauss, in his 1952 essay for the
UNESCO, used the famous metaphor of two trains crossing each other's path: each one thinks he is going the right way, while the other seems not to move or to move backward. Because of this,
ethnocentrism is a necessary optical illusion, which in turn racist
discourse uses to justify itself.
Taguieff was himself accused of racism on several occasions, for instance when he praised
Oriana Fallaci's book The Rage and the Pride.[3][4] He was also criticized for his contribution to the controversial website Dreuz.info, which French newspaper Le Monde described as "ultra-Zionist" and islamophobic.[5]
On the Nouvelle Droite's discourse
According to Taguieff, racist discourse, such as that supported by
Alain de Benoist's Nouvelle Droitefar-right movement, has accepted the theories of cultural relativism and the non-existence of biological race. Claiming to uphold cultural relativism and thus antiracism, this new racist discourse in fact reiterates the strict distinction of various
ethnic groups and segregation between them.
Since it argues that "ethnic groups" exist but are not biological races, it claims not to be racist. However, apart from the
pseudo-scientific racist theories of the 19th century, it espouses an anti-
assimilationist point of view in completely rejecting the notion of a social
melting pot. Arguing that the Enlightenment's philosophy of universality, taken to extremes, is a form of racism, it pretends to be antiracist by preaching strict separation of ethnic groups. However, if the critics of "universal racism" are correct, it is clear that this new form of racism is descended in a direct line from the old discourse of separation between different supposed races.
About antisemitism and The Protocols of the Elders of Zion
Pierre-André Taguieff's denunciation of
antisemitism and of the instrumentalisation of
anti-Zionism by specific ultra-minority groups has caused controversy, his opponents claiming that he was identifying anti-Zionism with antisemitism. However, Pierre-André Taguieff is a staunch opponent of any form of
communitarianism whatsoever. As such, he does not claim that anti-Zionism is necessarily antisemitism, but simply that in some
Islamist circles, explicit anti-Zionism may dissimulate implicit antisemitism, in the pure tradition of the European history of antisemitism.[citation needed]
Pierre-André Taguieff wrote Les Contre-réactionnaires in 2007, in which he opposed both
antiracism and
antifascism. He considers them as ideologies which are instrumentalized by
far-left groups "aiming to regularize as many illegal immigrants as possible without any regulation".[6]
The New Cultural Racism in France,
Telos 83 (Spring 1990). New York: Telos Press.
(dir.), Face au racisme, t. 1, Les moyens d'agir ; t. 2, Analyses, hypothèses, perspectives, Paris, La Découverte, "Cahiers libres, essais", 1991 ; rééd. Paris, Seuil, "Points essais", 2 t., 1993.
ISBN2-02-020981-0
(co-directed with Gil Delannoi), Théories du nationalisme, Paris, Kimé, "Histoire des idées, théorie politique et recherches en sciences sociales", 1991.
ISBN2-908212-10-2
(dir. and ed.), Les Protocoles des sages de Sion. Faux et usages d'un faux, t. I, Introduction à l'étude des "Protocoles" : un faux et ses usages dans le siècle, t. II, Études et documents, Paris, Berg International, "Faits et représentations", 1992 ; new edition, Berg International et Fayard, 2004.
ISBN2-213-62148-9
Sur la Nouvelle Droite. Jalons d'une analyse critique, Paris, Galilée, "Descartes et Cie", 1994.
ISBN2-910301-02-8
La République menacée. Entretien avec Philippe Petit, Paris, Textuel, "Conversations pour demain", 1996.
ISBN2-909317-20-X
Le Racisme. Un exposé pour comprendre, un essai pour réfléchir , Paris, Flammarion, "Dominos", 1998.
ISBN2-08-035456-6
(with Michèle Tribalat), Face au
Front national. Arguments pour une contre-offensive, Paris, La Découverte, 1998.
ISBN2-7071-2877-5
La Couleur et le sang : doctrines racistes à la française, Paris, Mille et une Nuits, "Les petits libres", 1998 ; new edition, coll. "Essai Mille et une Nuits", 2002.
ISBN2-84205-640-X
(with Grégoire Kauffmann and Michaël Lenoire, dir.), L'Antisémitisme de plume (1940–1944). La propagande antisémite en France sous l'Occupation. Études et documents, Paris, Berg International, "Pensée politique et sciences", 1999.
ISBN2-911289-16-1
L’Effacement de l’avenir, Paris, Galilée, "Débats", 2000.
ISBN2-7186-0498-0
Résister au bougisme. Démocratie forte contre mondialisation techno-marchande, Paris, Mille et une Nuits, "Essai", 2001.
ISBN2-84205-584-5
(co-directed with Gil Delannoi), Nationalismes en perspective, Paris, Berg International, "Pensée politique et sciences sociales", 2001.
ISBN2-911289-37-4
Du Progrès. Biographie d’une utopie moderne, Paris, EJL, "Librio", 2001.
ISBN2-290-30864-1
La Nouvelle judéophobie, Paris, Mille et une Nuits, "Essai", 2002.
ISBN2-84205-650-7
Rising from the muck: The New anti-Semitisme in Europe. Ivan R. Dee, 2004.
L'Illusion populiste : de l'archaïque au médiatique, Paris, Berg International, "Pensée politique et sciences sociales", 2002 ; new edition : L'Illusion populiste. Essais sur les démagogies de l'âge démocratique, Paris, Flammarion, "Champs", 2007.
ISBN978-2-08-120365-5
^Taguieff, Pierre-André (2007). Les contre-réactionnaires: Le progressisme entre illusion et imposture. Paris: Denoël. pp. 576, 574.
ISBN9782207253212.