In-group love and out-group hate are distinct with separate origins

Evidence

Interestingly, however, the findings did not confirm Sumner’s basic assumption about the reciprocal nature of in-group and outgroup relations. … In his initial portrayal of the ethnocentrism syndrome, Sumner (1906) included negative attitudes toward out-groups as well as positive feelings and evaluations of the in-group. Further, he assumed an explicit negative correlation between in-group and out-group attitudes such that the greater the attachment and solidarity within the in-group, the greater the hostility and contempt directed toward out-groups. … Contrary to this strong position that in-group and out-group orientations are mutually reinforcing and arise from the same conditions of intergroup conflict and competition over scarce resources, our interviews with representatives of nonwestern societies revealed a wide range of attitudes toward recognized out-groups, from respect and mutual admiration to relative indifference to outright hostility. As one of our informants put it “we have our ways and they have their ways,” and preference for the in-group ways did not necessarily require intolerance of the out-group. Further, the level of in-group cohesion and loyalty did not appear to be correlated with the degree of negativity of attitudes toward out-groups (Brewer & Campbell, 1976). Thus, it was the experience gained from the CCSE project that first convinced me that in-group preference and out-group prejudice are two different things. Although related, the two have different origins and different consequences for intergroup behavior (Brewer, 1999, 2001). — Roderick M. Kramer, Geoffrey J. Leonardelli, Robert W. Livingston, Social Cognition, Social Identity, and…, 2479

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to Brewer’s later theorizing on optimal distinctiveness and the distinction between ingroup love and outgroup derogation; also parallels political science findings that ingroup attachment need not drive outgroup hostility.
• ADDENDUM: Parallels the ‘On Sacrifice’ article’s theme that in-group solidarity dynamics are frequently mis-assumed to require out-group hostility.