The causal links between prejudice’s escalating stages remain empirically unconfirmed

Evidence

Allport maintained that these various forms of intergroup enmity were arrayed on an escalating scale, where attaining one level predisposed the prejudiced person to move on to the next level of hatred. However, the interrelations between hostile prejudice towards, exclusion of, and violence towards outgroups (especially as such effects occur in the context of antilocution towards outgroups) remain poorly understood. — John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice, 1295

Categorization

• XREF: Allport’s escalating scale of prejudice is the classic five-level ladder (antilocution, avoidance, discrimination, attack, extermination) — this passage notes the causal links among its rungs are untested, connecting to debates about the empirical status of the model.