Downwardly mobile men displace aggression onto vulnerable minority groups

Evidence

In contrast, Bettleheim and Janowitz’s (1950) findings (cited by Allport) that men experiencing downward social mobility (an external source of frustration) expressed both more anti-Semitism and racism, is a prime example of the frustration–aggression approach. Presuming that Jews and Blacks were not the direct cause of their downward mobility, these men’s greater anti-Semitism and racism was an example of displaced aggression. The targets of their aggression were assumed to be chosen because they were weak, vulnerable, and already deprecated minority groups. — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 1567

Categorization

• XREF: The canonical frustration-aggression scapegoating account familiar from social psychology; grounds the displacement mechanism.