Absence of hostility in unequal relations does not ease their human cost

Evidence

Research on these issues should reveal a broader array of intergroup behaviors and attitudes than those encompassed by the current state of knowledge. I posit that the significance of intergroup hostility will recede when we identify the precise conditions under which it is displayed and the range of emotions, beliefs, discrimination, and violence that mark various intergroup relations. As wary, resourceful humans configure their behavioral and attitudinal strategies under the weight of their interests and political constraints, free-ranging hostility should be recognized as a probable liability. This is especially true in longstanding relations of inequality. The dearth of hostility in such relations in no way diminishes their human toll. — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 689

Categorization

• DEEPTHINKING: Resists a one-sentence summary: the claim that hostility recedes under identifiable conditions, that free-ranging hostility is a liability for shrewd humans, and that its absence in unequal relations in no way lessens harm — each strand points a different direction.
• QUESTION: Worth chasing: what conditions make hostility a poor strategy in longstanding inequality, and does its absence mask harm precisely because it is absent?