Perspectives on Hate
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With hate crimes on the rise, it is more important than ever to understand how hate originates, develops, manifests, and spreads — and how it can be counteracted.
In this book, renowned psychologist Robert J. Sternberg assembles a diverse group of experts to examine these central issues from the perspectives of multiple disciplines. The book is anchored by Sternberg’s FLOTSAM theory, which identifies key conditions that enable the development and transmission of hate, including fear, license, obedience to authority, trust, sense of belonging to a valued group, amplification of arousal, and modeling.
Chapters work through various manifestations of hate: hate as a thought, a feeling, or an action; forms of hate that are rooted in group bias, or that stem from a single relationship; and hate that varies in intensity, from the mundane to the extreme. Authors also explore the various cognitive and emotional processes at work, as well as the political motivations that can spark violent acts of hate.
The book also considers the role of hate crime legislation and the relationships among hate speech, free speech, and group violence.
Preface
- FLOTSAM: A Theory of the Development and Transmission of Hate
Robert J. Sternberg
I. Defining Hate
- Hate, Dehumanization, and “Hate”
Nick Haslam and Sean C. Murphy - The Essence of Hate and Love
Clark McCauley - What Is Hate?
Thomas Brudholm
II. Cognitive and Emotional Processes That Lead to Hateful Behavior
- Theorizing Hate in Contemporary USA
Susan Opotow and Sara I. McClelland - Channeling Anger and Hate for Protecting Human Life
Israel W. Charny - Hate in Contemporary America: Pathology or Opportunism?
Richard M. Lerner and Paul A. Chase - FLOTSAM: The Theory in Practice: Understanding the Reawakening of Hate in the Modern World
Robert J. Sternberg
III. Hate Crimes
- Hate Crimes in Transition
Jack Levin and Jack McDevitt - “Hate Speech,” Free Speech, and Group Violence
David Moshman - Tolerating Hate: Racial Bias, Freedom of Speech, and Responses to Hate Crimes
Gina Roussos and John F. Dovidio - “Message” Crimes: Understanding the Community Impacts of Bias Crime
Rebecca L. Stotzer and Adriano Sabagala - Should Misogyny Be a Protected Characteristic in Hate Crime Legislation?
Amanda Haynes and Jennifer Schweppe
IV. Conclusion
- FLOTSAM Themes in the Volume
Robert J. Sternberg
Robert J. Sternberg is professor of human development at Cornell University and honorary professor of psychology at Heidelberg University, Germany.
His BA is from Yale summa cum laude, his PhD is from Stanford, and he has 13 honorary doctorates from around the world. He has won the Grawemeyer Award in Psychology and the James and Cattell Awards from Association for Psychological Science.
He is a past-president of APA and of the Federation of Associations in the Behavioral and Brain Sciences. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Education.
He lives in Ithaca, NY.
