Prejudice and Intergroup Hostility

Abstract

(from the chapter) Social scientists have used a number of concepts to describe and understand intergroup hostility and conflict. The concept of prejudice, which has been typically defined as a negative intergroup attitude (Allport, 1954; Ashmore & DelBoca, 1981; Brown, 1995), has probably been the broadest and most influential of these. The conceptualization of prejudice as a negative intergroup attitude involves two fundamental issues. The first is that of social categorization. It is only when others are not seen as individuals but are categorized as members of social groups or categories that negative intergroup attitudes can be activated toward them. The second issue is that of the structure and dimensionality of these negative intergroup attitudes. Social psychologists have distinguished three distinct components of prejudice, or ways in which negative intergroup attitudes can be expressed. These are negative stereotypes (cognitive component), negative feelings (affective component), and negative behavioral inclinations (behavioral component) toward outgroups. These three components have traditionally been seen as three expressions or components of a single basic attitudinal dimension of intergroup evaluation. Recently, however, evidence has accumulated suggesting that there may be two different dimensions of intergroup evaluation, disliking versus liking and disrespecting versus respecting, with each manifest across these three ways of expressing prejudice. The issue of social categorization as providing the fundamental social-cognitive basis of or precondition for prejudice will be considered in the next section, followed by a consideration of the nature, the dimensionality, and the varieties of prejudice. Finally, the chapter will examine the causes of prejudice, as both an individual and intergroup phenomenon. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2009 APA, all rights reserved) (chapter)