The causal chain from derogatory speech to violence remains unverified by research

Evidence

Psychologists still understand relatively little about the effective rebuttal of antilocutions, on the part of either outgroup targets or ingroup bystanders to those antilocutions. In addition, while the effects of the use of ethnophaulisms on hostile prejudice and on exclusion have received empirical confirmation, the plausible and very serious link between antilocutions and violence is woefully in need of research. — John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice, 1295

Categorization

• SEED: The ‘woefully in need of research’ claim offers an essay angle: why the causal chain from demeaning speech to physical violence — so intuitively central to debates over hate speech regulation — remains scientifically unestablished.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice: Fifty Years…, 1295