Ideological malleability reflects strategic rationality rather than irrationality

Evidence

When Allport noted signs of ideological malleability among dominants (as in his hypothetical conversation between Mr. X and Mr. Y, 1954/1979, pp.13–14), he misread them as indicating that intergroup attitudes were intrinsically irrational and driven by deep-seated animosity. Instead, the malleability of intergroup ideology reflects its rational, strategic nature, as dominant and subordinate group members adapt to changing political exigencies. — John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice, 681

Categorization

• DEEPTHINKING: The claim that signs of ideological flexibility — which Allport took as evidence of irrationality — are in fact evidence of rational adaptation is a paradigm-shifting inversion worth sitting with.
• XREF: connects to: Apparent conservative ideological contradictions are strategically coherent — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk: The Collected and Unpublished…, 1693; Casting targeted actors as irrational masks their strategic rationality and motives — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of…, 351