Equal-Opportunity Hatred

Key Insight

Prejudice often extends across multiple out-groups, a phenomenon referred to as 'equal-opportunity hatred' by political psychologists. For instance, Carl Paladino, a New York gubernatorial candidate, was accused of both racism against Black people and anti-Semitism, exemplified by his 'Obama Inauguration Rehearsal' email featuring an African tribal ritual and his comparison of a Jewish official to 'an Antichrist or a Hitler'.

Surveys confirm this interconnectedness of prejudices. Paul Sniderman's study found that 84 percent of individuals who agreed with six negative stereotypes about Black people also agreed with at least two out of three anti-Semitic statements. This pattern was also observed in the 1950s by authors of 'The Authoritarian Personality', where high scores on the Anti-Semitism scale correlated with antagonism towards various other ethnic and national groups.

Similar trends are seen globally; in Italy, dislike of Eastern European immigrants predicts unfavorable views of African immigrants. In Israel, the correlation between RWA scores and xenophobic attitudes towards foreign workers is nearly identical to attitudes towards Palestinians and immigrants from the former Soviet Union, despite their distinct relationships with Jewish Israeli society. While social scientists often view this as human irrationality, a biological perspective suggests it aligns with strategies to reduce reproduction with any perceived out-group.