Hate Crimes and Personality: What's the Link? |
Several years ago, I wrote a blog about the complex economic, cultural, and social factors that usually come together to create a perfect storm, with hate crimes as an emerging consequence. I focused on the unintended effects of rapid technological development over the past 50 years, which boosted economic productivity but also led to job losses and reduced demand for labor. With unemployment comes not only economic instability but also deep frustration and a loss of personal dignity for millions who feel powerless and a sense of having been culturally discarded.
In such a social context, political leaders often exploit voter frustration and helplessness by offering simple solutions to complex economic and cultural changes. A common tactic is to blame socially marginalized groups, such as immigrants or minorities, for social and economic problems arising from the unintended consequences of fundamental societal change.
A combination of unemployment, loss of personal dignity, and exploitative political leadership is a recipe for social unrest and hyper-partisan divide. Such a confluence of psychosocial forces increases the potential for a level of frustration to become combustible.
Still, the great majority of people do not become hateful or violent. But a small minority often does, and that minority fuels further unrest. It pays then to identify the characteristics of those individuals who are at risk of perpetrating violence that is not out of personal animus, but because the victims belong to a category of people whom perpetrators have identified as the source of society’s ills and as representations of cultural problems.
Hate crimes are driven by