A global team of researchers, including Professor Stephen Reicher from the School of Psychology and Neuroscience at the University of St Andrews, have produced a new World Bank Working Paper offering an innovative and integrative analysis of how collective hate develops and the strategies that can be used to counter it.
The team, brought together by the Canadian Institute For Advanced Research (CIFAR), describe a self-reinforcing "cycle of hate" which produces division and conflict within societies, thereby threatening social welfare and economic development worldwide.
Drawing on evidence spanning psychology, economics, political science, sociology, and history, the team of international researchers show that hate is not an inevitable aspect of human nature. Rather it is systematically built, mobilised and justified across generations. Critically, by understanding how hate is built, we can identify the most effective ways of intervening to dismantle it and to restore social cohesion.
The paper, published this month, proposes four components in the cycle of hate: the use of history to identify certain groups as an 'eternal enemy'; the structure of the current context, which positions certain groups as competitors and threats; the role of leaders and the media in creating a narrative of enmity; and the justification of hate as something inevitable and even desirable to defend 'our values'.
When activated, this cycle leads to rising prejudice, discrimination, dehumanisation, and, in extreme cases, violence and conflict. The authors highlight that hate can unravel years of progress by eroding social trust, weakening institutions, and disrupting cooperation long before violence becomes visible.
"Intergroup hate is not an external shock," note the authors. It is deeply intertwined with development trajectories," For instance, economic policies that benefit some groups more than others, or institutional reforms that are perceived as unfair, can trigger or accelerate the cycle of hate. On the other hand, hatred can disrupt economic development, impede growth, and destroy human potential.
By identifying the key phases in the cycle of hate, the researchers highlight points where interventions will be most effective in disrupting that cycle. The paper provides a novel and comprehensive inventory of ways to challenge hatred.
These include:
Designing school history textbooks to promote inclusive historical narratives and foster tolerance.
Facilitating Intergroup contact and cooperation, such as mixed sports teams or collaborative workplaces, to reduce competition and threat.
Promoting positive leadership and media narratives that frame a broader sense of "we-ness" amongst different groups and challenging disinformation that promotes threat beliefs.
Humanisation and empathy-building between groups to highlight the human consequences of hate.
These are not alternatives. Multi-level interventions which work simultaneously at psychological, institutional, economic, and political levels hold the greatest promise for durable intergroup cooperation. Policies focused solely on growth or service delivery may unintentionally worsen intergroup tensions if they fail to account for identity boundaries, perceptions of unfairness, or local histories.
The authors argue that social progress must be measured not only through economic indicators but also through the strength of social relationships across groups, and the degree to which societies remain inclusive, peaceful, and resilient.
Professor Reicher concludes: "Hatred is not something bred in the bone. It is made by humans in society and hence - if we understand how - it can equally be unmade. Even as we look around and see the rise of intolerance and polarisation across the globe, it is up to us to replace indifference and hatred with compassion and cooperation. Indeed, the health of our societies depends on us doing so. This paper is intended as a road map to help identify the best way to succeed in doing so."
Category Research
