Individual frustrations explain spontaneous prejudice while collective processes explain organized persecution

Evidence

At the individual level, momentary frustrations, such as threats to self-esteem, can exacerbate derogation of outgroups (Fein & Spencer, 1997) and daily frustrations can lead individuals to respond disproportionately to minor provocations, especially by outgroup members (Miller, Pederson, Earleywine, & Pollock, 2003). However, such individual-level processes must be distinguished from collective processes; whereas the former explain when individuals are likely spontaneously to act on their prejudices, the latter explain when frustrations lead to organized persecution of outgroups. — John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice, 1611

Categorization

• DEFINE: Establishes a crisp two-level distinction: individual frustration produces spontaneous prejudice acts; collective frustration produces organized persecution.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice: Fifty Years…, 1611
• XREF: connects to: Persecution strengthens the pathological relationship of the excluded; Ticket-thinking remobilizes defused anti-Semitic impulses into persecution — Theodor W. Adorno, Max Horkheimer, Dialectic of Enlightenment, 164; Social psychologists explain genocidal behavior through situational pressure plus unexamined psychological processes — Leonard S. Newman and Ralph Erber (eds.), Understanding Genocide: The Social…, 352 (+1 more)