prejudice
A hostile or negative attitude towards a group based on stereotypes, i.e. generalisations derived from false or incomplete information. Based on Gordon W. Allport’s model (the Gordon’s Scale) there are five successive and increasingly severe forms of prejudice: 1. verbal prejudice (antilocution), 2. avoidance, 3. discrimination or exclusion (segregation), 4. physical aggression, and 5. persecution and annihilation. Its development and dynamics at both individual and group level are fostered by conformity, stress, frustration and the resulting displaced aggression (scapegoating), political or economic competition and the associated fear for position, damaged self-esteem, and prejudiced underlying personality or group attitude. Research into prejudice from a social psychological perspective began in the early twentieth century in the United States of America, primarily in relation to social injustice and the situation of minority groups. The rise to power of the National Socialist German Workers’ Party (Nazi Party) in 1933 and the horrors of the Second World War drew attention to the dynamics of prejudice and its global impact. From the beginning research has been linked to attitudes, stereotypes, individual and peer influences, conformity, the wider cultural context and socialisation, and today the focus is primarily on the cognitive aspects of prejudice. Notable experts in the field are Gordon W. Allport, Elliot Aronson, György Csepeli, Eugene A. Horowitz, Kurt Lewin and Henri Tajfel. (See also: prohibition of discrimination.)